How To Paint Roses : Tackling a Beautiful Yet Complicated Flower

About Connie Nelson

I have always liked to draw and paint. In elementary school I was known as the “school artist”. Drawing and painting was a blissful and ‘easy’ activity for me.

I was also inspired by my father, who was a sumi painter. Still, I did not see myself an artist until after taking a job as a registered nurse. The toll exacted by the job on my body and soul made me question my purpose in life.

One fateful day, while I was still working as a nurse, I stepped into an art teacher’s studio and took my very first formal art lesson, and I have never looked back. I soon quit my nursing job and began seriously pursuing painting through continuing art lessons, supplemented by various workshops.

I live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest of the United States, surrounded by water and mountains. It’s an enchanting place to live out an artistic life.

The world is more colorful and interesting since I became an artist; every morning I wake up and wonder what to explore next. It is a wonderful way of life. What a blessing!

Please visit Connie’s Websites to learn more about her and to view her work:

Her Art Instruction Site:

http://www.explore-drawing-and-painting.com

Her Portfolio Site:

http://www.connienelsonart.com

How To Paint Roses : Tackling a Beautiful Yet Complicated Flower

Do you find the thought of learning how to paint roses a bit daunting? All those petals and subtle shades of color! On this page I’ll use a step-by-step oil painting demonstration to show you that the process of how to paint roses is very doable. The same procedure work with acrylics, too.

I took this picture of some roses on a beautiful summer day in my kitchen. I like the soft glow of the roses and the variety of colors. The focal point is obviously the deep red rose in the middle.

My intention here is to create a quick oil study that will convey a sense of spontaneity and freshness. I want to give the viewer an impression, but avoid overworking the canvas,

Let’s started to learn how to paint roses together.

First, I prepare two copies of the main image. In one, I used image processing software to blur the picture. Squinting at a subject is a great way to spot the main shapes and tones, but it gets tiring.

A blurredimage allows me to do the same thing without getting a headache. Once I have the painting blocked in correctly, I find that details are either easier to paint or not necessary.

The second copy is a gray scale version, which helps me see the tones I need to mix for different parts. Tones are a compass that guides the mixing of colors, because everything will be tied together by tonal relationships. If the tones are right, the painting looks unified.

I use a gessoed 6”x 8” (15cm x 20 cm) mat board. I have three bristle filbert brushes (ranging from number 6 to 4) plus a small round number 1 brush for sketching and details.

My color palette consists of 4 water soluble oil colors: cadmium yellow medium, cadmium orange, alizarin crimson, and ultramarine blue (plus titanium white).

I limit my time to 20 minutes. I find that the less time I have, the less likely I am to fuss around, and the result is a stronger painting. It’s a technique I learned from Craig Nelson.

1) First, using the blurred image, I sketch the composition—editing out the details and smaller shapes. Even with the blurred image, I squint so I can narrow the tones down to just a few. It is important early on to catch the “thrust” (or “gesture”) of the roses. For now, I treat them as cylinders, and only depict the largest dark “crevasses” to indicate where things are going. I don’t dwell on the details.

2) Once the sketch is satisfactory, I use the largest brush to paint the center of interest: the large rose in the middle. The strokes are bold…even a bit sloppy. I mix ultramarine blue into alizarin crimson for the dark tone and adjust it by adding more alizarin crimson for middle tones.

Note that this is the more crucial stage of learning how to paint roses – initial differentiation of large masses with the correct color notes.

3) I continue to cover the large masses with different flat colors. I am still squinting to keep me from getting lost in details. The objective is still to create approximate shapes—an impression of the roses.

4) Returning to the large red rose, I add some vibrant, lighter tones over the initial darker tones. I mix a bit of white, and cadmium orange into alizarin crimson. I am careful about adding the white into the red mixture, because I want to avoid any chalkiness. Still using the big brush, I rough in the full canvas

5) Once the flat tones and large masses are laid down, I start to mix tonal variations to create more depth. I compare the new tones with the previous ones to keep the all-important tonal balance. I add some of the brightest tone to the roses in the background. As you learn how to paint roses, remember that the basic shape of a rose is cylindrical, and lighting will affect them accordingly. Here, the light is coming from the right side.

6) Using my smallest brush for added control, I paint the highlight on the middle rose. Because roses have a velvet-like matte surface, the highlight should be soft—not shiny.

7) The final stage of the painting is edge control. I want to make “soft” edges recede and to sharp edges come forward. Laying down blocks of color with the big brush, as I did earlier, is likely to leave a lot of harsh edges. They may be either where two shapes connect or where planes meet within the same shape. I use a clean brush (or my finger) to soften the edges of the top left rose and also the rose at the top right corner. I also soften the furthest petals of the middle rose to keep the focus on the sharp center of the large rose. Soft and hard edges both have their place in achieving strong visual impact.

8 ) I notice that the red rose in the middle is in danger of being overworked. So I stop.

I often do this kind of small, quick oil study to prepare for larger paintings. It is like a trial run before a long marathon. When Itackle the larger format, I have already practiced the brushstrokes and worked out the composition. It really smooths the process.

There are other benefits to this type of painting. Click here to learn why quick oil/acrylic studies will advance your painting skills.

Practice painting all the roses in front of you. Remember that artists are made, not born. You can learn how to paint roses, too!

Pastel Drawing Tutorial – Pink Orchids

THE SUBJECT

For this second pastel drawing demo, I used the picture of two pink orchids highly sunlit from the top left. The two orchid flowers protrude from the background which is composed of elongated leaves rising from the ground. The lower background is shadowed and makes the orchids stand out even more with color and shape contrast.

THE MATERIALS

Again, for this demonstration I used a 64-color set of Mungyo soft pastels (27 mm x 8 mm) and a sheet of Strathmore Pastel paper (11” x 14”) of somehow pale yellow color. This type of paper requires at least 5 mm sticks or pastel pencils to be able to fill the texture more efficiently and render details in realistic drawings.

THE PALETTE

I did not find much problem matching the colors, tones and shades on this one with my Mungyo colors but a set with more color gradations and shades is recommended.

THE DRAWING PROCESS

The following sections do not follow an exact step by step process but rather stages which contain different steps to work with drawing and coloring areas. My intention here in this second pasted drawing demo is to show more pigment addition without saturating or bloating the paper with colors that causes cloudy patches. I recommend shaking your paper from time to time to avoid the accumulation of dust in the lower parts which contaminates the already colored areas, especially the light colored areas. My expertise with soft pastel colors is not extensive so this is actually part of my pastel drawings self-teaching and learning that I publish on the Web.

STAGE 1

With my base drawing carefully and precisely drawn, I begin to match some of the lightest shades in the orchid flowers. This first layer is to slightly fill in areas which define the main subjects and to cover paper texture. White areas have been indicated. Some dark hues have also been added to the orchid. Lemon yellow and yellow ochre are also visible. As I pointed out in my first pastel demo, at this starting stage, it is important to start by just hovering the pastel sticks over the paper without applying much pressure.

STAGE 2

After putting in some coloring from Stage 1, I focus on the lower orchid and start blocking in its shape against the background area which appears a little undefined and blurred. This is yet with the lightest of the various brown and green tones of which the dark background is made. From here I extend outwardly but not far outside of the orchid enclosing area. Here I verify and constrain the orchid’s shape because my base drawing is already concealed.

STAGE 3

Following you can notice that I haven’t moved much farther from the drawing of the lower orchid. The orchid itself shows some loose colors which will need further blending and definition. The dark areas in the background have been strengthened to make the orchid contours stand out. A mosaic of related colors is noticeable which I will later fuse to produce the necessary tonalities. Some leaves have tentatively been drawn with their lightest sunlit or shadowed tones.

STAGE 4

From here I have extended to the left and right but still not much to the bottom and top areas. Light tones first for both light and dark areas to progressively obtain the right gradation and blending. Little by little, step by step and area by area the background becomes apparent and integrates with the foreground. I advance on the top orchid by filling in more areas and defining tones. Not much pigment is yet added, just an overall layer without saturating any specific area. Don’t despair on ending one main subject yet, completing it later as we advance is more rewarding and we can save time on correcting mistakes that can’t be undone otherwise.

STAGE 5

Next, I have covered the bottom with dark blue (ultramarine blue) but it will require some black to achieve the darkest hue. The leaves in the background are continuously and progressively filled with hues that intermingle with each other. Some dark ochre becomes apparent over the green areas but it will be downgraded as I darken these areas. More polishing and strengthening of colors and shades will be left for the last stages to achieve a thorough application of pigments and overall balance of color and composition as well as contrast.

STAGE 6

In advancing to the leaves at the top, the colors need to be some kind of sap green and hookers green using the light shades to match the sunlit areas. Some lemon yellow is also added on the edges of the orchids’ leaves. The upper orchid is not yet well defined or constrained against the background. I do this later as I advance to the upper half. Here, pink shades from the orchid; and pale green and lime green from the leaves are complementary colors whose interplay becomes apparent at the end of the drawing. At this stage, the background appears more integrated and less chaotic than the previous stage.

STAGE 7

To this point, after several days and paused working, an overall layer of the drawing surface has been completed. The only uncovered area is where I will put my signature. The background at the top has been filled with dark blue and some scattered black. A lot of polishing and color restating, shading, blending and texturing will ensue to help define overall color balance and contrast. Edges will be enhanced where needed with contrasting colors and shapes. In the lower background area, dark ochre predominates which will subsequently become the lighter areas when darker tones are added over. More retouching will be required to eliminate color and composition inconsistencies in the drawing.

STAGE 8

At this stage we have a pre-finished drawing. I have added my signature and the upper orchid has been mostly constrained and redefined proportionally. More time has been invested in polishing, saturating and darkening the background. From my experience in photographing orchids, orchid colors can be highly tinted and others quite pale. These contrasting colors can provide interesting results in drawing or painting orchids in any media. Orchid’s leaves, on the other hand, are almost devoid of any texture except for longitudinal divisions that produce certain color changes with light.

FINAL WORK

After much more reworking, dedication and effort on trying to achieve a more realistic approach, I treated every area separately and rendered them to the utmost. The paper texture, however, did not allow for further smoothing of the surfaces and some stippling may be noticeable. This can be overcome by using finer textured paper and trying different pastel sizes, brands and quality.

Please feel free to follow this pastel drawing process to create your own drawing and self-teaching. The process does not start if you don’t take the courage to grab your pastels and start to apply colors over the paper. It emphasizes the application of pastel from small amounts to successive layering of pigments as necessary and allowed by the drawing surface. Working this way will create more confidence in the artist and the ability and capability to handle more colors, hues, shades and tonalities to enhance pastel drawing with time. Until another art demo, best wishes in your everyday art making and take the most advantage of your pastel drawing experience. Please send me your comments to email attached below.

WEBSITE: http://www.georgemax.co.nr/

EMAIL: georgemaxart@hotmail.com

How To Paint a Rose in Watercolor Step By Step By Doris Joa

About Doris Joa

My name is Doris Joa and I am an artist from Germany.

My mediums are watercolor and oil. One of my special favorite subjects are Roses and figurative work. I paint roses and also other flowers in oil and watercolor. Beside Pansies, Rhododendron, Peonies, Daisies and Tulips, there are a lot of roses in my gallery on my website like Heidi Klum Rose, Sangerhauser Jubiläumsrose, Rose “Mein schöner Garten”, Rose Golden Celebration from David Austin, Rose Innocencia, Rose New Dawn, Rose Clair Renaissance, Rose Queen Mother, Rose Bonita Renaissance and more.

My goal is to paint in romantic realism. I am also doing figurative work, portraits, still lifes and in 2005 I have started a new series of colourful Horse paintings in oil. I also have started with doing postcard paintings in 4?x6? and other small studies .

I have a great passion for nature and her beauty and try to capture this in my paintings. The sunshine, the shadows, the light and the glittering of a raindrop I find most captivating.

I love it when people tell me that when they view my paintings they can smell the flowers, feel the velvet of the rose-petals and have the feeling of standing in a garden.

Please be sure to visit Dori’s website to learn more about her and to view more of her work.

Her websites:

http://www.dorisjoa.com/

http://romanticrosesinwatercolor.blogspot.com/

How To Paint a Rose in Watercolor Step By Step

The Star of this painting and Demonstration will be the Rose painting “Open Arms”.
It is a beautiful climbing rose, which I bought new this year for my garden and I was lucky to see a lot of blooms.

I love the colours in this rose and I am looking forward to paint this rose.
Since I need time for doing a rose painting, I cannot paint from life, no rose would live such a long time.

Another reason is that I have two small kids, so I usually only have time to paint in the evening when they are sleeping – so I work from photos. Since this rose is in my own garden, I had enough time to really observe it and understand more about the colors.

I work only from my own reference photos.

I used a digital camera, Olympus C -750 Ultra Zoom to take the photos in this demo. It’s a great camera. I am able to see the details on the wings of a bee. I can zoom up to 40 times.

Now let us get started:

What do I need for a watercolor painting?

I need:

• watercolor paper
• brushes
• paints
• paper towels
• and of course water.

And I will show you later some helpfool tools.

I am using only hotpressed paper. Most of the time I use 300 g (140 Lb) Arches hotpressed watercolor paper, but I am also using Lanaquarelle, also 140 Lb (300 g) and also hotpressed.

I do not see a difference between both brands, only that one is more expensive than the other.
I like the surface of this paper, it is wonderful for describing the finest detail and it is possible to paint the whole spectrum of texture. Hotpressed paper allows you also to paint in layers without disturbing underlayers.

One thing: As you know, I am a german girl, so please be kind with me about my english. When I do not explain good enough or when you do not understand things, what I am saying, please let me know. Thank you.

Back to the first steps:

I always stretch my paper.

You will need: your paper, a board, stretching tape, jar of clear water and paper towels.

I wet my paper in the bath or shower , place it on the board and wet the measured pieces of tape by wetting them in the jar of clear water. I then place the tape around the sheet of paper (it is half over the paper and half over the board). With the paper towel I go along the stretching tape to absorb the moisture.

Do not worry if there are still some buckles in the paper. When the paper starts to dry they will disappear.

I have a lot of colour tubes in my paintbox, but I do not need them all. Also I work with different palettes.

In the next photo you see these small porcellain palettes. These are my favorite. I always use a small palette for my flower colours, one palette for the leaves and one for the background etc.

My favorite brushes are Da Vinci Maestro brushes. I have them in several sizes, but most of the time I work with sizes 2, 3, 4 and 6. The points of these brushes are excellent.

Before I start, I would like to show you some helpful tools. I am sure you know what masking fluid is. I prefer to not use it as I do not like the hard edges that you will get. Also it is easy to ruin your brushes with it. When you use masking fluid, use only old brushes. When I have tiny highlights in my painting, which are very hard to save, I prefer to use Masquepen. It has a very fine point applicator.

Another helpfool tool is Aquacover.

Here is the excact description: Aquacover is a revolutionary new product from Creative Mark! Aquacover is a versatile product that will provide new avenues of creativity and alleviate a problem that has plagued watercolorists since the beginning of time. It is available in 5 shades of white that perfectly match the most popular watercolor papers used today. Aquacover is the perfect cover up allowing you to fix small or large areas quickly and painlessly. Once applied it dries in seconds and is permanent, non-cracking and non-yellowing. You can then apply color directly over it without bleeding! Aquacover is sold in 1oz bottles with dropper caps and is sold with our unconditional guarantee of complete satisfaction. Get a bottle today. We know you’ll love it! (Due to its thick consistency, Aquacover is best applied with a brush. We do not recommend the included dropper for direct application.)

I use Aquacover rarely, but it helps me to get highlights back. You can use it with your brushes, it doesn’t ruin them.

The next helpful tool is an eraser from Faber Castell called the Perfection 7057. It is a very hard eraser, which helps you to get highlights back when you later decide to add dewdrops and you have not saved the highlights before. It is a great tool.

Click Here For Part 2 >>

How To Paint a Rose in Watercolor Step By Step – Part 2

I have started with the painting.

Here is a photo of the drawing. As you can see, the detail is not very good. I am sorry.

At first I wanted to do a square format, but I did not really like it, so I changed the composition and now it will be a high format.

There are several larger roses, some buds and leaves.

I also have decided for my palette. I am using:

• Naples Yellow (Winsor & Newton)
• Indian Yellow (Schmincke)
• Translucent orange (Schmincke)
• Permanent rose (Winsor & Newton)
• Alizarin Crimson (Schmincke)
• Phthalo blue (Schmincke)
• Brillant Purple (Schmincke)
• Sap Green (Daniel Smith)

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I do not like to use masking fluid, but in this painting I will go over all the stamens with the masquepen. It would be otherwise too complicated to paint around them. I have done small lines, so I am sure, I will have no hard edges there later, when I have removed the masking fluid and add the colour there.

The next photo will show you, how I have started with the first rose.

In this rose are areas of white. I do not like the raw white, so I did a very very fine wash with Naples Yellow over this rose. Then I added some Indian yellow where I saw more yellow in this reference photo.

I wanted to have the colours in this rose warm, so the next layers were a mix of permanent rose and translucent orange. Where it was not so warm, I added to this mix a bit of brillant purple. To the areas that seem to be more cold, I added a mix of brillant purple and phthalo blue.

So far I like what I have done , but there is one area which I do not really like. It is this blue area. I am sure you see it, so I will go over it. Maybe I will try to lighten the color a bit or simply add a touch of my warmer mix. I will try this carefully until I am pleased.
I paint petal for petal and when I am finished with them, I soften the edges. I am using a flat brush for this, it works perfect.

I hope to do more painting tomorrow. I will work on the stamens later – I usually do this when I am in the mood. First I will continue with the other roses and some buds.

In the next step I have painted on two buds and also on some leaves around them. The buds and leaves are not finished yet, as you will see.

I have start again with underlayers. On the buds I did a very fine wash of Naples Yellow – but where I saw more yellow I did an underlayer of Indian Yellow and where necessary I added a bit of Sap Green.
Then I worked with the same colours I used on the large rose – but I tried to make them a bit more cool (adding a bit more of brillant purple and/or phthalo blue).

On the leaves I also started with underlayers. One side of the leaves I did an underlayer of Indian yellow and on the other side I did an underlayer of phthalo blue, so I have a warm and a cool side on the leaves. In the next layer I added Sap Green. I will work more on the leaves and also add some of my petal-colour (permanent rose or brillant purple), because the leaves will be reflected from the roses and also the roses will be reflected from the leaves. I will also add sap green/ phthalo blue and/or alizarin crimson on the leaves, to make beautiful darker areas.

<< Part 1 | On To Part 3 >>

How To Paint a Rose in Watercolor Step By Step – Part 3

I have worked a bit more on this rose painting. I darkened the leaves more around the buds. I did this with using sap green, alizarin crimoson and phthalo blue. I mixed the colours on my palette. I also added some of the rose colour on the leaves, as I described this Part V. Then I removed the masking fluid of the first rose, because I do not like to leave the masking fluid on the painting too long. I am fearful that if I leave the masking fluid on the paper too long, I will not be able to remove it, so I simply removed it.

I then began working on the rose on the bottom of the painting. Since this rose is not in the center of interest, I made the colours cooler than the other rose. I worked more with permanent rose, brillant purple, sap green, alizarin crimson and phthalo blue. I also used Aureolin, which is a cool yellow. I also greyed down the colours a bit, so this rose will not be a competition to the other rose. I still have to soften the edges there. In the first photo you will see a close up and in the next photo you will see the whole painting, so you have a good idea where I am working.

At this point, I have not made as much as progress as I had hoped. It is going slowly, but I like what I have done so far. I am working around the painting, doing my layers with the same colours, which I have used before. I worked on another bloom and you can see, that this bloom is also a bit cooler than the first painted rose, which is really warm.

TIP: Although I am doing a light underdrawing I always erase the drawing lines before I start adding the first layer of colour. I do not like to see pencil lines later shining through the rose. When you have done your first layer of colour it is very difficult to erase the lines. So keep them fine and light. I will show a full version of the painting and some close ups. I still have to soften some edges and I have to add maybe more darks on the leaves. I will also look at the rosepetals again to see if I am satisfied with them, need more darks etc. There is still a lot to do and I hope to make a lot of progress in the coming days.

Here is an update of my rose painting. There is progress, but still a lot to do. I work in the same way I started and I am using the same colours.

<< Part 2 | On to Part 4 >>

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