How to paint a flower with watercolour

I sketch the Magnolia in pencil. If you like, you can start mixing your colours with water on a pallet so that they are ready to use. I moisten the paper and use a Gold II Round Brush No.4 to paint the petals in a wash of diluted Permanent Rose.

I always start at the edges, where the colours are darkest and let the light colour gently run on the damp paper. To do this, I use the belly of the brush (the fatter part in the middle) and hold the brush diagonally to the paper. When the first petal is finished, I choose a petal somewhere else, so that the colours don’t run into each other.

I moisten the whole stem and start with a light wash of Burnt Sienna. Here I let the water work to my advantage, From the edges I use the point of the brush and I blend out the colour with the belly of the brush. I use the Sceptre Gold II Round Brush No.4 and No.7 for the larger areas.

For the green part, I use Permanent Sap Green and now work with brush no. 2. Again, I work wet-on-wet, just as I did with the petals. If there’s too much water/colour on my brush, I regularly wipe it off on a tea towel.

I only add another wash/layer when everything is completely dry. At this point, any pencil lines can be erased. I now focus on the light and the shade areas on the photo. I use a mix of Permanent Rose and Opera Rose or Quinacridone Magenta on darker areas to add depth. For the green area, I use Perylene Green, Sap green and Winsor Yellow. In the stem, I add details with Burnt Sienna and Vandyke Brown./p>

With the point of the no. 4 brush, I moisten the leaf and use my no. 0 brush to go over the veins with Permanent Rose. I also add a little Vandyke Brown to the stem, wet-on-wet for more depth. In some places, I then let the colour fall onto the moist paper. The water will cause the colour to spread by itself. Here the colour mix has more pigment and less water.