Purple Tulips. 4 x 6 watercolor and gouache on 140 lb. Arches cold pressed paper. © 2015 Sheila Delgado
This painting came together quickly. Nice surprise that. I goofed on the right leaf. Big time goofed. Wrong color choice. I mixed a green that was much too blue. I re-wet the area, and lifted it out (Thanks CheyAnne for the reminder.)
Two more layers of green there, and it was feeling kind of blah. So I added another, and it just was not complimenting the other greens. So I tried a layer of white gouache. And another. And then it was too white.
Work in progress, too much white.
If you take a look at tulip leaves, they often do have a white-ish, grayish cast to them. and are more on the blue side of green. But I really love the other greens, I did not want to change them at all.
The solution was to take some of the spring green that was still on my palette, and glaze over the leaf. Voila! You can see I also added some highlights to the bud on the right.
I am debating adding a brilliant color to the background. I was thinking of doing a series of four with the tulips in the previous post being the first. But I think that may detract from these flowers. I did a digital background, to try it out.
Purple tulips digital experiment
Maybe this color is not the right one. I am eager to hear your opinion. To add or not to add!
I am house sitting for friends this weekend, starting this afternoon. I apologize in advance, I may not be able to respond to comments or on Google+ until Monday.
Happy weekend y’all!
Nice bright cheerful painting but I do think it needs some color in the back – maybe 2 colors complimenting the colors in the flowers, sort of a graded wash. – have a nice weekend.
I tried a gradiated wash digitally, it might be the answer. Thanks Val, I hope your weekend is great!
Sheila – It’s great! I would simply add some of the blue-ish green on the outer portion of the left leaf. I like the white background because it’s crisp-looking – but the yellow is also very powerful – because it’s the complement to the purple.
Trust your intuition – it’s always perfect!
Good idea Connie, thank you. It won’t hurt to try the yellow, I will still have the digital file.:)
Just gorgeous, I really love the way the stems right under the buds have created their own colors. And I never knew that right leaf didn’t belong, it looks perfect.!
Thanks CheyAnne. I added a bit to the stems for shadow, but I did not wait long enough for the paint to dry, so it just kept spreading. I do like it though.