Asters revisited

Asters (revisited)
original watercolour by Teresa Newham

Following the successful revamp of my Hyacinths painting, I turned my attention to Asters.  This is a favourite of mine, made as a demo at Open Studios a few years back, and I didn't want to alter it drastically; I wondered if simply remounting it would do:

trying the original version in a new mount
© Teresa Newham

I came to the conclusion that something more was needed.  The background looked distinctly wishy-washy and there was too much yellow; so I removed as much of the original colour as I could and strengthened the background with Permanent Sap Green and Permanent Alizarin.

playing with the background
© Teresa Newham

This worked well; I re-did the flowers with Permanent Alizarin, and they started to sing against the green.  The leaves and stems were going to need similar treatment.

bringing out the flowers
© Teresa Newham

The end result in the new mount looks subtly different to the original - so subtle that I sometimes have trouble telling photos of the two apart.  Which means I haven't ruined one of my favourite paintings!

the revamped painting
© Teresa Newham

pen & wash: Asters

So, #HertsOpenStudios 2014 is finally over! The feedback I've received this year has been "you really should make more pen & wash pieces", and my final demo piece was exactly that.

no asters were harmed in the making of this drawing!
© Teresa Newham

I brought some asters in from home and tried various ways of drawing them in pencil, until I was satisfied I had the right approach - quite graphic and not too detailed.  The essence of the aster, you might say!

adding more and more colour to the drawing
© Teresa Newham

I went over the drawing in pen, then coloured in the flowers, using a thinner wash to portray the lighter areas. I did the same with the stems in sap green, then added some of the pink to the stems, referring back to the original flowers all the time (I popped the flowers back into water as soon as I could, and they made it safely back to their vase at home with no ill effects).

asters - plain background
© Teresa Newham

One visitor, peering over my shoulder just after I'd painted the flowers, reckoned I could have finished the picture right then, and although I felt that was too early, I was tempted to leave well alone once the stems were completed.  But there was still one Open Studios session to go . . .

adding colour to the background
© Teresa Newham

In the end I decided to add a background, just to see what the effect would be, and after laying down a yellow wash with lots of water sloshing everywhere, I dropped in some of the original pink and green to add more interest and tie the various elements of the painting together.  I rather like the result, and have found a mount for it already!

the finished piece, as it will be mounted
© Teresa Newham

A huge thank you  to the two hundred or so visitors who came to see our exhibition at Artscape and to meet us during our #HertsOpenStudios sessions - and to Gurmeet and his staff at Artscape in Harpenden for making it possible!