Hi everyone, welcome back to Hampton Your House where we're all about bringing the
coastal Hamptons vibe to your house, one DIY at a time. My name is Belle,
and if you're interested in getting the Hamptons look in your house on a budget,
I would love to have you subscribe to my channel and click the notification bell so you know when
new videos are up. I've been looking for some beautiful artworks or prints to hang up lately
and I just haven't been able to find what I was looking for. They're either too expensive, or you
see the same pictures absolutely everywhere and they don't end up feeling unique. So I've decided
to have a go at painting some of my own. As hydrangeas are a bit of a Hamptons Style staple,
I'm going to show you a simple way to paint some beautiful hydrangeas,
so we can all get some beautiful art up on the wall and hopefully have some fun doing it.
First, find a colouring in page of a hydrangea and print it out in several different sizes - I'll
link the one I used in the description box. Grab some thick cartridge paper and hold your papers up
to a window if you need to, or use a light pad to trace your flowers through the thick paper.
This is the light pad, it's a lot of fun to use.
I used felt tip pens to trace with in several different thicknesses, because i want to see
the black lines in my final product, but you could always use pencil if you prefer.
My paper is A3 size, I think you probably don't want to go any smaller than that but
it obviously depends on what's available in your area. Start with the biggest flowers,
or the ones that you want to be in the foreground and then you can build around those.
invert the design too, to make it look more unique and you can trace the leaves in wherever you like,
to fill in extra space. You can also trace partial flowers, or trace them on the edge of the page
so you only see part of the design. If you can, photocopy all or part of your design and test out
paint colours and techniques on a few different sheets. I tested purple and blue watercolours,
then realised adding a bit more grey gives them more of a Hamptons look.
Choose colours that go with your decor - they don't necessarily have to be true to life.
You can even paint blue leaves if you like! Don't forget to write down which colour
combinations you used so you remember for when you paint the final piece.
Once you're happy with your colours, start painting the hydrangeas on your original.
I tried to paint each of the petals within an individual flower the same shade as each other,
and then get more paint for the next flower. Remember to leave a
little blank space as well as lighter and darker colours to create light and shade
so it looks more realistic. You can always go back and add darker colours later,
but it's harder to go back and make it lighter so try to go easy. Don't worry if you don't
stay within the lines either - I think it adds character to have the colours bleed a bit. I
haven't used watercolours much and iIm definitely not an expert, so if i can do this, so can you!
Even though I decided my basic colour scheme beforehand,
I ended up deciding to introduce a few new shades to create visual interest.
I added this gold or peach flower to show a flower at the end of its blooming phase and I mixed a lot
of white with purplish-blue for the little flowers in between.
I also added some more aqua based-blue flowers for more variety
and mixed it in with blue-greys to keep it within a Hamptons palette.
For the leaves, I got some green and mixed it with a reddish brown and sometimes a bit of grey,
and then painted one half of the leaf at a time,
leaving a few little slivers of negative space and lighter shades.
For the other half of the leaf I got a slightly different mix of green and brown
either lighter or darker and painted it on in the same way. It then ends
up having a nice bit of variation, which makes it look more realistic.
Once you've finished painting and it's all dry, you might find your paper is
a little bit warped and bumpy. To fix that, turn your painting face down and
lightly spray the back of the painting with just a little bit of water smooth it out with a tissue,
and put something over it that covers the whole page like this visual diary, then put something
extra heavy on the top like this toolbox. Wait three to five hours for it to dry, and then
remove the toolbox and book, and your painting should be nice and flat ready to put in a frame.
And here's the finished product!
I wasn't sure how this one was going to go, but I actually really love the way it's turned out.
I originally wasn't going to add any green to the leaves but I'm glad I did in the end,
as it really brought the whole thing to life. I would love to hear if you give this DIY a
go and how it turns out. If you're not feeling confident with the painting aspect, you can always
just frame it as a cool black and white line drawing, or you could just do a wash of coloUr
over the whole thing with a big paintbrush. If you've enjoyed this DIY, don't forget to give this
video a big thumbs up and subscribe to Hampton Your House, I would absolutely love to have you
back! As always thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you again next time. Bye guys!