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painting grass. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter stirling
- Start date
nickderry
C'est pas ma faute, je suis anglais.
me too! A few ideas: 1, paint every blade, some people do, I couldn't. 2, Use a fan brush. 3, lay on the basic colours with a lot of wet in wet (leave some pale), let it dry, pick out a few darker bits with a darker shade. I think the best thing is to oversimplify it, as long as the viewer can recognise that it's grass, the brain adds the detail itself.
Any other ideas, I'd like to hear them too!
Any other ideas, I'd like to hear them too!
timwootton
Well-known member
Thirded for the 'impossible grass' scenario. I tend to approach the tricky subjects of 'botany!' arrgh!!! with as broad a brush as possible - therefore blaming all faults on the tools and not the workman - an age-old adage which is, unfortunately, totally transparent. If working in acryilic or oils, I try to make structural shapes of clumps of vegetation, not individual flowers, leaves etc and with watercolour, fast and positive movement washes are the way for me. One thing which took me ages to realise was just how much light there is 1) reflected from grass and 2) perculates through it. I think it's therefore best rendered very lightly with positive darks to create the moulding. Am I making any sense at all?
dryslwyn
Well-known member
I like doing grass in watercolour- I keep it really simple and really quick using a dry brush technique ie a fairly stiff mix of paint applied with the side of the brush in varying tones. I may mask out some lighter grasses with a thin brush and apply just a few darker ones at the end with a rigger. Sometimes some body colour applied with a rigger can be useful. I'll try and post something on the joint thread but don't hold your breath.
Woody
Well-known member
I hate grass too! Best solution that I've been working on is paint dark and real loose underpainting then pick out individual stems with lighter colour. Seems to be working on the partridge pics. If the grass is at a further distance I use a really worn out old brush and pain in 'clumps', sometimes successful, others not! And brown winter grass is so much nicer to paint than fresh green spring grass.
Woody
Woody
