Hello, it's Anna Mason. In this video I'm going to show you the process I went
through to paint this gorgeous and super-sized Cymbidium Orchid using watercolour.
The colour mixing here had some challenges to it as it included that yellow-green colour to the petals
but a red spotty pattern to lots of them too. It had to be handled carefully
so as not to have those two colours muddy into each other. Lets take a look...
﻿Having made my outline drawing, I began painting by applying a very pale layer of watery paint
in the different colour areas of the petals. I started using my big size 8 brush,
but quickly found that I wanted to work with a smaller brush to give me more control,
so I switched down to my size 5. As I worked my way around the composition,
I adapted my paint mixes where I observed the subtle hue variations in the flowers.
I used a mix wuth Winsor Lemon and Permanent Sap Green as a base, in varying proportions.
I added to it a touch of Permanent Carmine in a few places, some Burnt Sienna to go under
the red detailed areas, and a tiny amount of Payne's Grey in the areas of shadow.
I then refreshed my water, and with my 3 brush, I applied the lightest versions of the colours to
the flower's centres, using Transparent Orange, scarlet lake, and lots of grey mixes.
Although most of this initial layer in the painting would be painted over again, I made sure from the start
that I painted in the direction of form, to help build up the stripy visual texture in the petals.
Next I switched down to my 1 brush to paint the lightest versions of the red and brown areas.
I found it really satisfying to map out these patterns at this early stage!
Where I needed to take the colour darker, I included some Quinacridone Violet in my mix.
With the layer beneath dry, I then went back to the yellow areas to darken them.
For this, I used my size 1 brush and this time I included plenty of Yellow Ochre in my yellow mix,
as this can sit beneath reds and greens. I used lots of Winsor Lemon to keep the mix bright,
and added a little Opera Rose in the areas where I saw a more pink hue.
I was careful to hold off from painting right up to the edges of the petals, as keeping these a
lighter colour would help them to look 3D later. I created more of a green mix with Permanent Sap
Green and Winsor Lemon next, and applied this to all the areas I could see would
end up this colour and tone or darker. Using a greeny brown mix of Payne's Grey,
Burnt Sienna and Permanent Sap Green, in a thick buttery consistency. I then painted
the darkest tones on the stem, which would be the darkest tones in the whole painting.
Then I painted the darkest tones in the flower centres, which were a 'bright' brown colour.
For this I used a mix with Opera Rose, Permanent Sap Green and Winsor Lemon.
Using my red mix again, I applied a diluted version of it to all the areas that were going
to be this hue and tone or darker. I varied the paint consistency, watering down for paler areas
and using a less dilute mix for the midtone areas in this colour. At this point I decided
to call it a day and come back to the painting the next day with fresh eyes.
The next morning, with clean water and a cleaned-off palette, I now started working
on the flowers one at a time, to make it easier to see the adjustments that were needed in each part.
I had several colour mixes on the go; my more red mixes, which included Permanent
Carmine and Scarlet Lake, more greeny mixes with Permanent Sap Green and Yellow Ochre,
and a bright yellow Winsor Lemon mix. With the flowers in the top right painted,
I turned my attention to the 'main', front-facing flower. I subtly darkened the yellow petals,
adding vein details in a greener hue where I could see them in my reference photo.
I made tonal adjustments around the yellow parts where I could see they needed to be darker,
always making sure the layer beneath was dry. Once I was satisfied that the yellow petals were
looking about right, I used a milky consistency mix of 3 dark paints: Permanent Carmine,
Burnt Sienna and a touch of Paynes' Grey. I used a stippling technique, still with my size 1 brush,
to begin applying the speckly red pattern on the yellow petals.
As tempted as I was to add more details at this point, there was more darkening I needed
to do first. So I continued building up the layers in the main flower.
I then went down a brush size, and began painting the red vein details on the flower that I'd been
itching to add - making a few more tonal adjustments as I went around.
I was having so much fun creating more realism with each brushstroke.
Now that I was happy with the front-facing flower, I gave the same treatment to the
flowers on the left of the composition. It was time now to start adding more details
and finishing touches. I dropped down to my smallest sized treble zero brush,
and worked my way around the painting, adding as many details as I could see to each petal.
This is my absolute favourite part of the painting process. I find it so mindful and restorative.
With more details added, I could now see some areas of yellow that I wanted to darken slightly,
and I had to be very gentle so as not to disturb the paint underneath. Where the areas I wanted to
darken were a bit larger, I switched up to my size 3 brush. In these last stages of the process I
kept taking a step back to assess the painting as a whole and check the tonal balance looked right
to me. Once I'd stopped seeing details to add and areas to darken, the painting was finished.
I hope you enjoyed taking a look at this process, and feel inspired to paint your own orchid.
In my online School you can find a traceable outline drawing for this Orchid,
and I also have two tutorials where I demo in full detail the process for two parts of the flower.
If you've enjoyed this mini class, please subscribe to my YouTube channel, and make sure that you take
my FREE full length class at "AnnaMasonArt.com"
Thanks so much for watching and I’ll see you soon to help you create watercolours with “wow”.