About this blog


WELCOME! My name is Ann Mortimer and I'm a professional watercolour artist and tutor from Nottingham, UK.

This is a "learn how to" and "problem solving" blog covering WATERCOLOUR TECHNIQUES.

You can look for things that interest you in the blog archive on the side bar when various topics have built up over time!

I'll be covering thing such as colour mixing, negative painting, using masking fluid, laying washes, painting water and all sorts of other things.

Thursday 2 February 2012

Autumn leaves and negative painting.


On this same subject of negative painting I came across this photograph taken last year when I was preparing for an Autumn colours workshop. It's a good example of how the technique keeps coming up no matter what your painting subject matter.

(You can click on the image to enlarge it.)

Using the collection of leaves in front of me as inspiration for colour and shape, I have laid a first wash bottom right.
I've used a variety of colours as in the real leaves and have dropped them randomly on to wet paper. I've made sure to leave an interesting broken edge around the outside of my vignette to represent leaf edges.
You can see the drawn pencil lines underneath the wash and now I'm about to paint around and between those pencil lines with darker washes of the same colours in order to achieve the finished effect in the Autumn Leaves painting on the left.
Once I've painted the spaces in between the leaves, I will allow this to dry and then go into this wash again to find more negative shapes to represent more leaves underneath.

So another example of negative painting in use.


4 comments:

  1. Great example and great painting! I love the colours.

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  2. Thank you for these posts on negative painting; you have described the process very clearly! I understand the process far more and will be giving it a go. The advantage of the photos here are that its possible to study them and see exactly what you have done, and go back go the previous steps if necessary.
    I do hope you are able to keep up with this blog - I've only just discovered it and am reading avidly!

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  3. Thank you for this great feedback SP

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  4. Whoops! SPD....I appreciate that. Glad that the teaching is clear. So many people are fascinated by this technique, as I am. Thanks for taking the trouble to comment! So happy it's been useful to,you

    Ann

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