4Start defining individual petals with blue midtones. For diversity, place regions of violet and pink. Some petals will be painted directly, while others will have surrounding paint (negative painting.)
I want to convey form by using soft edges within the petals and firm edges to delineate shapes.
Use a damp or wet, but not dripping, brush to run around the edge of an area that has been painted to allow the paint to feather out.
5Continue painting, one petal at a time, positive and negative forms. Analyze the areas of your flower or photo where the dark and light borders contrast with one another. Where two edges meet, paint the side that is darker.
6Continue to add more midtones and darks, mix up the blues, and add a few pink accents.
Alternatively, you might wish to add extra detail by painting some of the petals’ veins with a little rigger brush.
It’s a good idea to start painting the leaves at this time even though you might opt to add a few more finishing touches to the flower later.
Leaf painting:
In order to change the tone of a green, add ultramarine blue, rose violet, and/or yellow to a base green color like sap green or Hooker’s green. Greens can also be blended by adding yellow + blue.
On the leaf, apply a little layer of green paint. To create interest, mix up the color. Add blue on the chilly, shady side of the leaf and yellow to the sunny side. After that, apply one of the methods from the list below to highlight the pronounced veins on hydrangea leaves.
To incise or scrape vein lines into WET paint, use a pointed object like a toothpick. In the scraped area, paint will settle and form a dark line.
To remove paint off leaf veins, use a tiny brush dipped in clean water. Between strokes, rinse and dry the brush.
Light green or soft yellow should be used as the leaf’s base color. Dry off. The area between the leaf veins should be painted a darker green. The veins should not be touched. (Before painting with the dark green, softly sketch the veins with a blue or green watercolor pencil to determine where they will be.)
While painting all those petals and giving them a three-dimensional appearance takes some time, if you just take your time, seek for contrasty edges, then paint the darker side, you’ll finally have a lovely blue hydrangea blossom!
Please give it a shot and let me know if you have any questions by leaving a comment. I’ll be glad to assist.
A blue hydrangea: what is it?
The chemistry of the soil, not what is sprayed to the blooms, is what determines how colored hydrangea blossoms turn out to be. The color of the blossoms will increase with soil alkalinity. Some types stay pink at a neutral pH, while others begin to display exquisite lavender hues with undertones of blue. Acidic soils, usually with a pH of 5.5 or less, are ideal for blue hydrangea blooming.
Aluminum sulfate, which is readily accessible at practically any garden center, is the simplest way to acidify your soil and turn those babies blue. In the spring, as soon as the plant starts to grow, saturate the soil around your hydrangeas with a solution of 1/4 oz. aluminum sulfate in a gallon of water. Reapply in 4 weeks and again in 8 weeks because you’ll need to keep that acidity throughout the growing season.
Another, more organic way to increase soil acidity is to add organic materials like coffee grounds, egg shells, or citrus fruit peels. Simply break them up and till the soil with them. It can take a full year of doing this continuously for the changes to occur gradually, resulting in the proper acidity.