[CR] Draw a rose in details

Hello, friends! Today we continue the theme of drawing lessons of watercolor flowers. Unlike a last lesson we are not going to work quickly, and proceed how to draw a rose in details.

As I said in the last lesson, there are many ways to work with watercolors, but the subtlety of drawing colors is that here you have to combine work first on wet and then on dried paper. If you work only on dry sheets, then we can to lose the beauty of soft transitions, which here will not be superfluous, and if you draw only on wet base, then important details may be lost.

As a sample I used a great shot kindly provided to me by @unlonely-soul. Now we will draw this delightful rose.

Let's start with the contours. I did not begin to describe this stage in detail, because some of the nuances of the sketches have been explained in the last article.

Do contours in more details and proceed to paint.

Before you start to impose the first layers, I strongly recommend to move away from our reference and look at it from afar. You can to see that the edges of the flower are bright (almost white, with a cool bluish hue), and to the center there soft transitions to yellow are represented.

In the darkest corners of the flower appear reddish, olive and brown tones, depending on the angle of illumination. That is, the rose here is like a cup, which is inserted into several burst spheres entering into each other, like matryoshka dolls.

I suggest to proceed as follows: we choose for the basis of a yellowish paint, but not bright. For example, the ochre or Indian yellow. Or mix the desired color of several colors in the bath palette.

I am working on the A5 format again, but the picture is quite large. While do not use nothing else but the selected paint, we will work on dry paper, but with a caveat: applying the technique of wetting individual areas.

If not for the bright petals, we could easily stretch tone. From yellow to transparent background, from the center to the edges of the rose. But then the bright petals would have to be painted over with whitewash, and this is not our option, so draw each individual element, starting from the edge to the center. So far, only one color, but with gradations where it is needed.

Important! To obtain soft tone transitions in small areas of the picture, it is enough to moisten this area with water first, and then drag a drop of paint from one edge to other one, gently pulling it with a brush for accuracy. In small areas it is even easier to do than in large ones.

We can set the background right away, but not too pretentious. It is quite a few large spots. It must be done on the same principle as the elements of the flower, that is, wetting a piece of the field and accurately entering the paint, which itself will spread in soft stains on the paper. Do not worry, it will not fall abroad on the petals of flower, because there is dry area around.

As soon as the main yellow color in the rose is finished, after drying the paper, you can enter a new layer of paint. We determine where we have a slightly darker area, and we work there.

Important! Do not forget to check the fact that in some parts of the flower we have warm colors, and in others cold. I used different colors. Orange and red in some cases, olive green, ochre and umber in others.

Once over the second layer, the third drawing where necessary. It is difficult in one or two steps to select the darkest areas of the flower. We may have three, four or even five layers in our watercolor artwork.

To avoid uneven, ragged transitions, make sure that each large or small fill does not have time to dry up to the moment when you work in it with paint. If the moisture evaporates there, moisten it again in time and remove the paint evenly or collect the excess with a squeezed brush, like water with a napkin.

In time of painting with watercolors it is not necessary to hurry. It's almost a meditative process. If you are properly configured, drawing will bring you a lot of pleasant experiences. Our rose is almost ready.