Dee Cowell

DEE COWELL ON DYNAMIC WATERCOLOURS 

Dee started the evening by telling us about some of her favourite materials and items of equipment that she uses.

 She likes Derwent materials and one of her favourite products is their table pencil sharpener!  Favourite brushes are a squirrel hair mop brush and a swordtail brush.

The mop is used for washes or with the pointed end for dry brush work. To work wet into wet colour is put down and the second colour added leaving a space between the colours for the colours to merge without muddying.

The sword tail is used vertically for fine lines and on its side with broad sweeping strokes for other effects.

Gouche is a favourite paint as it can be restarted from dry. It is particularly effective used straight from the tube on black paper. It is also easily lifted off.

To start a flower painting Dee does a thumbnail sketch then places her main flowers on the strong points where the thirds cross. She uses a Daler-Rowney mixed media pad for her work.

To start the Hydrangeas she first sprays water in scattered areas then drops blue in and allows the paint to spread. This is followed by yellow and again the paint is allowed to spread. Some of the paint is then lifted with a tissue to form petals. The same method is repeated with brown paint to produce a darker flower.

For the roses she paints a squarish shape with water then adds yellow and spreads and drags the colour out with the swordtail. The petals are outlined and shadows put in using quinacridone gold. Irises are painted in dark blue in a similar way.

Texture paste can be added with a palette knife but needs an hour to dry. It can then be re-wetted a small area at a time and colour dropped in around the area. This will then spread into the centre of the petals. 

Watercolour pencils are used throughout the painting process eg for outlining leaves or painting stems.

Other useful products are Aquawax available on line from Colourcraft and Schimke gel. Both can be used to give texture.

Backgrounds were painted in using various greens and the versatile swordtail brush.

This was a very informative evening with Dee introducing us to some new materials and producing a beautiful flower painting by the end of the evening.