Magnolia season
Posted: May 10, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized 35 CommentsMagnolia season is too short. The flamboyant blooms open and are gone before you know it. Since most of the trees are on people’s lawns in my neighbourhood, I had to drive around a bit to find one close enough to the road to paint — I couldn’t very well set up in someone’s front yard with my sketching supplies. Since the blossoms are very light at the top and intensify in colour closer to the stem, the best way to tackle them is to wet each flower with clear water and then go in with pure colour near the stem (I used a combo of Permanent Rose and Permanent Alizarin Crimson). The lighter pink is created as some of that pure pigment mingles with the clear water and travels up the flower. Sketched in a Field Watercolor Journal, 8″ x 8″.
woow so beautiful!
thanks!
A perfect capture, Shari! You’ve got that little uplifted cheer of the stems and blossom just right.
They do have a unique shape, don’t they? So beautiful when they are in bloom and then quite ordinary after that.
You are more than welcome to setup in my front yard in magnolia season when you’re in Toronto!
Thanks for the offer Karin! Wish I had planted one a long time ago…
They grow fast and flower quickly. If you keep them trimmed, they are a riot of blossoms. It’s never too late!
Hmmmm…. it would be wonderful to have one in the garden…
You make that look so easy! I’ve been eyeing these ones for over 3 weeks and trying to sort out how to capture them.
Get out there and sketch them before the petals fall…
now in a region where they wouldn’t grow in a greenhouse, but thankfully with your sketch I was able to practise… very happy with the result. : ) thank you for the inspiration.
It’s PERFECT!
thanks Monique!
This is truly beautiful, I’ve had a horrible day and this has really cheered me up, I’m going to
Search for a magnolia tomorrow and paint it! 😊
Hi Cherry. I’m so sorry to hear about the bad day. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better one… and maybe magnolias will help.
Beautiful, Shari, the way your colors mingle, the lightness of it all!
I have a yellow magnolia in my garden which I also tried to sketch and paint, to much poorer results of course, back at the beginning of April. 🙂 I wish I had seen yours beforehand for proper inspiration! [http://a-cacadora-de-desenhos.blogspot.pt/2016/04/a-minha-magnolia-amarela.html]
Hi Miú. I didn’t know yellow magnolias existed. Yours are beautiful but yellow flowers are so hard to paint. You can’t get the same intensity of colour as I did because the yellow never gets as dark as my pinks did. I had the same problem a few weeks ago when I tried to paint the daffodils. They only work against a darker background.
Yellow magnolias are much rarer and definitely much more recent than the pink and white ones. They are the latest craze of botanicists, it seems. You’re absolutely right about the “yellow” problem. Plus, I made the mistake of not wetting the paper before laying the colour. So, it “stuck” straight away, and didn’t fly up the petals. And, as the original yellow is very, very subtle, the watercolored version came out looking fake. Oh well, I’ll try them again!
Thank you, Shari, for taking the time to check and for your precious feedback. 🙂
Oh this is very beautiful pure Spring! Lovely! Carolina
Thanks Carolina.
You’re welcome Shari!
Shari! I have been sketching for years and love a square format. Can you tell me the make of your 8″x8″…thanks!! Jane
Sure, this one is made my Handbook Paper Co: http://www.globalartmaterials.com/fieldseries.php
They really came out well!
Thanks!
Would you be so kind as to repeat the name and brand of the blue you like to use in your skies. I have misplaced that posting. Love that color!
This one is Winsor Newton Phthalo Blue. Very diluted, because it’s a very strong colour, and very staining too.
Magnolias are really wonderful in the yard, and your creation on paper is like announcing that Spring has awoken. Super
That’s a good way to describe it Randy. Everything has woken up this week.
holly cow so simple and clean in execution and what a gorgeous result!
Thanks Gil!
Lovely as usual but really appreciate your technique & material. I bet if you showed this to a homeowner they’d invite you into their yards.
Actually, as I was painting the owner pulled up and went into the house. Didn’t even glance my way…
Gorgeous, wonderful colours.
thanks Michael!