SKETCHBOOK 01 : FLORAL PRINT PROCESS

I've always liked to see start to finish projects from artists I admire.  It's neat to see a simple sketch come to life and I've been meaning to do this but often times I'm just caught up in painting and forget to snap a few photos.  I hope to share a little more insight into my process this year (#goals).  

There is somewhat a method to my madness, but not always.   When I'm going to do a design that fills an entire page, this is how I like to start.  I measure off my paper to make it a standard size in case it ends up being a worthy print for my shop.  Then I'm able to scan as is without cutting off any florals, clean it up, and it's ready to go (although I'm not this lucky!).  Also, when making a print where I want the elements to overlap, I start with a very light pencil sketch so I have a guideline.  Since I was going for a layered look I started with my greenery.  In most of my designs you see that my greens float around the page from underneath florals, so they typically do get painted first.  Next I went for my focal point, in this case the dusty blue large florals.  If I feel something is harder to shade, I like to do this in the beginning because if the shape and shadowing isn't right to me I won't end up finishing the piece (there's only so many changes you can make with watercolor).  Once that is out of the way and I like it, I will begin to fill in the smaller florals.  Once all that dries I go back and add centers to the florals that need some.  Once it's fully dry I have to erase all my pencil marks, sometimes if they are still visible I will clean them up in photoshop. And Wala!  This photo seemed to be well liked on instagram this past week so I do believe I will have some prints made for the shop! 

xx