Wild flower meadow
by Kim, the Editor
These letters have been hanging around for some
time, so I thought it was time to focus my attention
(see Afterthought) and get them done. I had
originally painted them plain grey as a temporary
measure.
First I decided on a horizon, slightly hilly. I painted
the sky with three colours of blue (DecoArt
Americana, dark to light: Blue Harbor, Whispering
Turquoise, Spa Blue.) Sky is darker the higher
you go, so I started with BH across the top, for
about a third down, while it was still wet, and
without
cleaning my
brush (Flat ½” or similar) changed to WT and blended with the
wet BH above. About a third up from the horizon I changed to
SB and blended in to the WT above.
I used a criss-cross, slip slap motion to blend the colours, It
was not a perfectly blended
sky, as it is more interesting if
slightly mottled.
Next, the rolling meadow. I
started with a mid-green to
base coat the area, Foliage Green. No fancy stuff here.
Then using Wasabi Green and Forest Green I painted random
stalks and stems with a small liner, and my favourite Gare Ultimate
Mini Liner (sadly no longer available). To paint the stalks I turned
the letters upside down and pulled the strokes towards me - so that
they were formed in the same way they would grow in nature - from the ground up, a technique I
learned from Chinese Brush painters. The same works for trees and branches. I used WG for the
more distant stalks, and FG for those closer. To add texture I sponged lightly and randomly over the
FG base with the other two greens.
Things are looking a bit messy at this
stage, but hang in there.
Now for the fun part. Choose colours
for your wild meadow flowers, I used
reds, yellows, pinks, lilacs - whatever
colours please you - oh, and just a
little white and black.
Using each colour in turn add a little
water to make them a bit like single
cream and splatter them on to the
letters. I used a larger brush with
longer hairs so that the splatter was
larger. If you use a toothbrush, it is
too fine. It took me a while and a
number of different brushes to find my ideal tool, so first test and practice on newspaper to get the
look you want - then go for it!
Happy painting in 2020!