Foxgloves (part 1)

 

I have been quite busy lately with my head full of commissions and new ideas, always finding it difficult to find the time to do what I'd want, I am also chief taxi driver for my teenage children, and now life is opening up a bit I find my little car is need often.

Still it's our fault making them live out in the sticks, and I always find time to walk up my lane and marvel at the changing seasons. about a week or so ago I saw the first foxgloves popping up in the hedgerows, I was thrilled...so I thought you might like to revisit some earlier blogs I have written about them.

 

 

So firstly I drew my foxgloves.

Then looking carefully at my reference photo I used a paperclip, dipped in masking fluid to add the white circles in the trumpets of all the flowers.

 

Nest I use a spray bottle and wet around the flowers and then drop some permanent rose onto the paper , so they merge into the background a bit.

Now let that dry, and begin on the flowers, look where the light hits them, I want to create different tonal values. So the top of the flower is simply the whit of the paper then it gets darker where it is in shadow. I use a mixture of permanent rose, arizilian crimson and cobalt blue to darken it. I also use some very weak yellow ochre at the top of the flower.

Can you see I also leave a white line between the tones, 

Now you have practiced one trumpet you can move onto the others. This is a nice one as you can pick it up and put it down. You can see I have also used cerulean blue a little, in the flowers.

I have also begun to paint in a few small green leaves, using sap green, yellow, and a tiny touch of red.

Now it's getting interesting , we need to create the darkness inside the flower, and it will show up better if it next to a lighter part. Use the pinks ( above) with some blue in them to create a purple colour, and use that as the dark part ( the inside) of the flower.

Then gradually get lighter towards the edge, and  add some pinker tones to show the edge is crimpled.

it's all good fun and can take as long as you like, I have also added some darker shadows to the little leaves. 

When all your flowers are painted, let it dry completely and use an eraser to rub off the masking fluid.

Finally you need to add a shadow in the trumpet at the top where the masking fluid looks too white

Hey presto , foxgloves!