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.

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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 >>

How To Paint a Rose in Watercolor Step By Step – Part 4

I worked on the leaves more. I added more depth to them with a mix of alizarin crimson, phthalo blue and sap green. I also added more colour here and there to the roses. I also began painting some of the stems. Here I have started with an underlayer of indian yellow and then I added a wash of sap green and then I added alizarin crimson. I still have to paint some leaves, then I can finally with the stamens and adding the background. I love how this painting looks so far – hopefully you are liking it as well.

I have now begun painting the stamens and began to introduce some other colours to the palette:

Cadmium Yellow deep, Perm. red orange, Kadmiumorange deep, Burnt Sienna.

In the rose, which is in the Center of Interest, I wanted to have the stamens warm and glowing.

In my first layer I used Cadmium Yellow Deep, then I added a mix of Perm. red orange and Kadmiumorange deep. The next layer was a mix of Perm.red orange, Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine for the shadow areas.

On the other roses I wanted to have the stamens a bit different, because there they are older. The bloom has almost reached the end of blooming and the stamens will be more dark.
Here my first layer was a wash of Naples yellow. I then added Burnt sienna and then a mix of burnt sienna and Ultramarine for the shadow areas. Make sure, to keep a small highlight on each stamen.

I then did some more work on the background.

Here is what I did:

At first this area was completely white, there was no stem, no leaves … nothing.

I did an underwash of Indian Yellow and let it completely dry, before I touched this area again. My next wash included the colours Sap Green, Alizarin Crimson, Phthalo Blue and Phthalo Green. I layed the colours in, mixed a bit on the palette and/or let them mostly mix on the paper. For dark areas I used a mix of alizarin crimson, phthalo green and phthalo blue. This makes a wonderful colourful black. Do not use black from a tube, it doesn’t sing.

I used more red, when I painted the background beside a green leave, because red is the complimentary colour of green. And I used more green beside a rose petal.
To suggest a stem I only lifted some of the colour with my brush and voila it looks like a stem in the background. That is a great way to suggest things in the background and you will get soft edges, which is very important.

Of course I still have to check later all my other edges. The edges should be soft.

Here is another photo of the whole painting. I will go on with this painting tonight and hopefully post another update.

<< Part 3 | On to Part 5 >>

How To Paint a Rose in Watercolor Step By Step – Part 5

I have done the next step. Although I have not worked on all stamens yet, I did more work on the background. I was too curious to see how it would look.

I started at the bottom part, did at first a light wash of indian yellow, sap green, here and there a bit alizarin, a bit phthalo blue and let it mix on the painting. I wanted to see, how it would look with only a light background, although I already knew how I wanted to have it. And the result was, that I did not like only a light background, so I came back to my first idea.

I wanted to have the areas around the flowers more dark and to the side of the paintings it will be lighter. So I added more sap green, more alizarin crimson, phthalo green, phthalo blue (I mixed it on the palette but I also added each colour here and there direct on the painting). And I added a bit of paynes grey bluish to get a deeper dark. Be careful with paynes grey bluish. It can look dull and it is also an opaque colour, so other layers will not shine through. Be careful where you want to add it. Here is a photo of how the painting looks at this time.

FINALLY: I am so glad, that I have finally finished my step-by-step-demonstration of the Rose Open Arms. I have worked a lot in the background, there are always more layers needed to get the right darkness, which I wanted to have. I worked with the same colours, which I have used before. Then I painted the other stamens, which were not finished yet. After that I checked all my colours in each rose and where neccessary I added layers . Then I softened the edges, where I had not done this before and the last step was to sign my painting. I hope you found my step-by-step-demonstration useful and I wish you luck with your own watercolors.

<< Part 4