Today I've taken aim at background effects. My reference is a photo of a canna lily taken at the Smith College greenhouses in 2010. Cannas have a beautiful mix of green leaves tinged with pink and red, and combined with a variegated dark background, this photo offers a bit of a challenge. Beginning with a light outline sketch of the foliage and two vine-like branches on the left, I painted the leaves with thin washes of Green Gold and Permanent Sap Green, then blocked in two branches on the left, blending Yellow Ochre with Burnt Sienna.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5KoP_N3uos7nNWjOlEhLbX0r4G84D4tsTfWnzpJqufakhMAer2OpKGqpmSYMd0mEb9ajTvnIEYtwMNWMUyHiqd6C0qTP7iGuLnq-nEIPohJhzEJFcHzskJWErdeK7fipddoYjwfSAq1A/s200/Canna+lily.jpg)
Once this first layer of color was dry, I worked from left to right, adding background color by mingling rich mixtures of Green Gold, Winsor Blue (GS), Burnt Umber, Sepia, and Burnt Sienna. I'm using a
Robert Simmons brand #785 White Sable Round brush, Size 8. It's a great brush –– not only is it affordable but it holds an edge/point nicely, carries a full load of pigment, and when a loaded brush is dragged sideways across dry paper it makes a nice "scumbly" mark which is helpful when adding a suggestion of background foliage, etc.
In the mid-portion of the painting and moving to the right, I'm starting to suggest sunlight filtering through dense background foliage. To achieve this I used a lighter wash of green, allowed it to dry, then added darker brushstrokes on top (in some places using the "scumbly" technique).
Next, I began defining the red and pink portions on some of the canna lily leaves with a light wash of Anthraquinoid Red (
Daniel Smith brand), a staining, transparent color. Once this wash was nearly dry, I added a few red stripes to indicate veins. (Having the paper
slightly damp meant the red stripes would blur a bit. I'm saving hard line details in red for a later step.)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA-DnXrT9TPq3ehoUo4SDDjnCp1-020zYWfcG_vdof9catkRFvK9q87igoCCqY13UW1ugdjIwusbilYEe28xSMgE9xJk_OX7u78_GtRB4LEDNPOEuh5HEnb9mBxO7Nv4SUsYVv4b2ZtMI/s320/IMG_9390.jpg)
I continued to enhance depth, and add more color, leaf by leaf, leaving lighter areas for highlights and deepening the shadows to indicate layers of plant foliage. I applied thin lines of Anthraquinoid Red (in a thick mixture with very little water) to the edges of the leaves and to the stems. Where the tips of leaves curved under, and where the leaves drooped, I used a combination of Shadow Green (
Holbein brand) and
Daniel Smith's Undersea Green.
The two vine-like branches at left were further defined with Burnt Umber. And then I used washes of French Ultramarine in varying intensity to indicate cast shadows throughout.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ7sYdWh5oPDkg5x8HCAeAG76lXVyY-9qgfjOpluavBd7Z1z6xrqdIafaoZAtdYVXfQ7A9wM-8J0bg08WT5Bn219gZHmYDmqlr5lWBWSKFYzk-lPvQvnx6gZHJe2wrH-jNYWRnoLMrJwc/s640/Canna+Lily%252C+study+%25281%2529.jpg) |
"Canna Lily, study"
transparent watercolor 10.5" x 7.5"
SOLD |