Hello it's Anna Mason. In this video I'm going to show you the process I went through
to paint these Gorgeous Hollyhock flowers which I painted
fairly large at 50 x 68 centimeters, or 20 x 27 inches.
I'd photographed this flower way back in 2009
when I'd been visiting a garden that was open to the public. It had sat on my to-paint list
for way too long so I finally got to it this year after a wait of nearly 8 years on my computer's
hard drive. Because I painted it so large, I would guess
it took around 8 full, 8-hour days to complete. That's if I had been able to spend that
uninterrupted time on it. In reality, it spent over 3 months on the easel with me grabbing
the odd weekend or afternoon on it. With it taking it so long I couldn't film it
here in the video studio. But I did take photos as I went so I can show you the process I
went through.
I was working on illustration board which is lovely and smooth textured and I began
as always with a really detailed, accurate drawing and then I
applied a really pale wash of the right sort of colour to each of the different colour
areas within the flower and it's foliage. This way I can begin to map out what colours
go where - which is important with a flower like this which contains so many variations
in colour, from purples to pinks and even a gorgeous silky grey area of reflection on
the lower petals. Even at this early stage I left little gaps through to the white illustration
board where there would need to be pale flecks of pollen on the petals. Just look how messy
it is, but it's exactly how it should look at this stage.
I used a size 11 and size 8 brush to work on the larger patches of colour at this stage,
and also the size 5 which is the biggest one in my standard set - but still really quite
small with hairs around 1.5 centimetres long. And I used my standard little palette with
relatively small mixes of paints - perhaps just a little larger than I usually use when
I work on my initial washes. The next stage was to mark out some of the
darkest tones, or values within the flowers, on the veins
using a smaller brush. Key to my technique is to make sure that the layer underneath
is dry first so that you keep total control of the marks you make.
With a few key areas of darkest tones painted, it then became easier to see how dark to
take bigger areas of the flowers. So I worked on them next with a size 5 brush, again ensuring
that the layer underneath was dry first. With the bigger patches of petal darkened
I again went in with a smaller brush to add further darker detail like the veins.
And I also made sure at this stage that I was still working around, and leaving gaps
in my paint, where the flecks of pollen were. The way we perceive the tone, or value of
something depends upon the tones we see around it. So having spent some time darkening the
petals, it was easier to then work on the very detailed centres, first working
with the subtle lightest tones, before Again going in to apply another layer, this
time with my tiny 000 brush to work on the darker details there.
Next I worked to darken and add detail to the foliage
Which had the effect of darkening the painting overall and
made it easier to then work on the darker unopened flowers around the edge of the main
blooms - using my smaller brushes to add plenty of detail.
Then it was time to do further darkening with an extra layer to some of the darkest tone
areas within the main blooms. With all that darkening done, it was now time to re-assess
the lightest parts of the painting again and darken them just a fraction so that the contrast
levels looked correct. I began by darkening the little tiny patches of pollen
with some very watery paint - working carefully with my tiny brush and then using my bigger
size 5 brush again to apply washes gently over the bigger light areas on the petals.
Of course the layer underneath was dry so by working very gently, this watery layer
I now applied could sit on top of the layers underneath, including where there were some
vein details, without disturbing those markings underneath. And with these final tonal adjustments
done I called it a day, or rather 8! Although it
looks pretty real, If we take a look at the photo I was working from
and compare it to the final painting you can see that it's not an exact match. I've
used artistic licence to remove holes from the leaves and I've enhanced the contrast
levels a little to make more of a feature of the details and get a final result I was
really pleased with. Attempting a complex painting like this,
at this scale, can be really daunting but I hope this video has helped give you the
confidence to try something like this by showing you that there were no special bits of equipment,
and walking you through the stages I worked through.
And if you know anyone, including yourself, who might like this Hollyhock to brighten
their home It's available now as a limited edition
print in my online shop If you've enjoyed this video, please subscribe
to my channel and share it with your friends. And if you'd like to take a FREE full length
video class from me, please visit AnnaMasonArt.com where you can find loads more resources to
help you pick up your brush and paint the way you've always wanted. Thanks for
watching. My book The modern Flower Painter is available
now in French, Italian, Chinese, Russian, Czech and or course English. So hopefully
there's an edition for you.