Background to Art in 4 Steps

In today's short post we will see this piece of art develop from a simple background to this final stage. And this is something you can totally do yourself.

Awhile back when I had some time and no idea what to do, I pulled out this journal and a set of watercolor paints. Just three simple colors swished back and forth till my page was filled. No blending. Nothing special. Just color. I did tape the edges first like I usually do. I had already removed the tape when I took this photo. I had no idea when I would actually draw on this page and the longer the tape stays on - the harder it is to remove without damaging the paper. 

Well it was a good thing I took the tape off because it was a couple months before I got around to this step. Before drawing I put more painters tape on. I knew I would be painting more. And I didn't want those black pen  lines to cross over onto the white paper. So. Tape. And draw. Two same flowers on the orange band. Just dot around a circle for the center and then fan out some petals all around. One floaty flower in the yellow and one large flower in the red. You can totally do these flowers. Start with the center, then add the petals. And I filled the rest of the red area with little flowers whose petals basically aura those before. 

Next, I painted the entire background. Everything that wasn't a flower. I used a couple shades of green and even a little yellow. And yes, it looks pretty awful at this stage. You pretty much always hit an ugly stage and you have to just push on through, knowing it will get better. Because seriously, sometimes it just couldn't get any worse. Could it? Hahahaha! 

Once my page was completely dry, I started adding detail to the flowers. To those center flowers I used a white Posca Paint Pen and my ultra fine Sharpie to add a whole lot more dots around that center part. Then I used those same pens to work the petals. Outline the petal in black, then backline it. Basically do the same thing in reverse but less strict. Add a few flick lines in each petal and add white where you want highlights. That is basically what I do with every flower I draw. 

Then I added details to the other flowers the same way. Nothing to it. Get brave and give it a try. Once I liked the flowers and felt like that ugly stage was gone - I used a black Archival ink pad and a stencil brush to add a little finishing smudge around the edges. My heat gun set the black ink and helped loosen up that painter's tape, which I then removed. Taking my time and going slow. And here is my finished page. 

Not hard. As far as pages go, this one is pretty simple. Remember it started with just three bands of color across the middle. All the painted color is watercolor. Then I used a couple pens to complete it. I know you can do this. And I hope you will try. 

Today I am going to be working on some textured tags at home. That means bringing out my craft sewing machine. Fun! As long as it doesn't jam!