Teddy Bear for beginners - step by step

This is a nice one for you.
You may not have a Teddy Bear to use as your 'model' but I do.

This is 'Bodinnick Bear' he's called Bodinnick because thats where he was bought some 30 years ago in Cornwall.

I have chosen to paint a Teddy bear, because so many of us have fond memories of a favourite toy, or have children or grandchildren with toys which they would probably love to have a painting of, especially when they are older, so a painting would make a wonderful keepsake. If you have a bear, use that otherwise do use this photo.

Begin with a line drawing, Instead of using a solid outline, use a broken outline to indicate a fur texture, this will look much neater once the paint is added and the lines will hardly be noticeable.

These are the colours I will be using, you can select any that you have that are similar.

I shall use my Classic number 12 round brush,Terry Harrison Deerfoot Stippler, or soft stippling brush and an Embossing Tool, or a cocktail stick.
The paper is Bockingford 140lb A4 size or similar

This is the combination of  colours we can make using  two of these colours at any one time.








Tape masking tape all around your picture 

Wet the paper all over then, working flat, begin to drop colours onto the wet surface using the Classic brush.

Tip – it is easier to work wetter so the paper does not dry out, but avoid allowing the water to ‘pool’ on the surface. If the paint does ‘pool’ dry the brush on some kitchen towel then use the point to ‘suck up’ any excess liquid.

Avoid churning up the colours with your brush, just allow the colour to merge and flow as it will.
'Go with the flow'

Adding more colours where necessary you can alter the background to any colour combinations you wish, check there are no ‘pools’ of liquid and once satisfied allow this to dry.

Tip – Watercolour always dries lighter than it appears when wet.

Allow this to dry completely.

Paint the bear’s head avoiding the eyes and nose, whilst this remains wet, drop in a little of the purple and blue into the darker areas.

Immediately use the embossing tool to tease out the fur around the edge of the bear.

If the bear’s head remains slightly damp more of the darker colour can be added after teasing out the edges.

Once the section dries, start to paint the adjoining arm, keep the arm wet in order to tease out the edge and continue to drop in more colour in the darker areas.

The embossing tool is such an easy way of teasing out the fur, this technique is the same as the one we used in the amenone post a couple of days ago.

Continue with all of the sections avoiding the ribbon. Don’t worry if they look blotchy, as the texture will cover this later; keep the colours brighter where they appear lighter and drop in darker colours where they appear darker.

Once the entire bear is completed, allow this to dry.

Notice how much lighter the background now appears.

Using the Deerfoot Stippler Brush, begin adding texture to the fur by stippling the paint onto the bear.

Ensure that the mixture is darker than the previous colour, and make sure the stippling is a light touch to create a mottled texture.

The dark sections should be nice and dark.

Tip- if stippling near and edge, use a piece of paper as a mask to cover up any sections you want to avoid stippling onto. A curved edge can be created by tearing a piece of paper into the shape that you need.

The finishing touches always make a big impact to the painting and are often the most rewarding part of the picture, so take your time and enjoy this stage.

Using a dilute blue, and the Classic 12 brush, paint the ribbon and the eye (leaving a tiny white sparkle in the centre) and allow this to dry.

Using the same colour paint the shadow at the base and right side of the bear (this will anchor the bear and stop it floating on the page)

Tip – to create a softer edge, lightly wet the paper before adding the colour, wet into wet.

Add a darker tone of the blue onto the small darker sections of the ribbon.

Although the nose is a lighter colour, I decided to paint this one darker to create more impact.

Mix a very dark colour and paint the nose, leaving a small shine, then paint the section of eye showing, and finally the darker section of the eye, ensure that some blue remains, as well as the white highlight.

Allow the painting to dry completely, and then remove the masking tape. Tear away from the painting; this will leave a crisp clean edge to your work.

And thats it!
I hope you enjoyed dong this one!

From sketch to watercolour - the perfect couple

Today I am going to use a sketch from one of my sketch books.I really enjoy getting out sketches that I may have done some time ago, and turn to these when I want to paint a little 'warm up' doodle painting, or just to browse down memory lane.

This sketch is a combination of line and hatching with using a 2B pencil.


It is as much to do with looking at light and the tonal areas as it is to do with colour. It wouldn't matter what colours these people were wearing at the time, I could translate that into anything once I have my sketch.

I am using just 2 colours. Blue and Sienna.
They are both Daniel Smith colours, which heavily granulate, so using a textured paper helps this process.
Here I am using Bockingford 140lb not surface, ideal for this fun little exercise.When these two colours are mixed they give me a variety of colours including a lovely dark that naturally granulates onto the paper creating a sumptuous texture. 

Using my Classic 12 brush I painted the two people at the same time, keeping everything nice and wet, so they merge into each other creating the "perfect couple"

Everything touches at some point. There is no island of paint that is not connected in some way to an adjoining section, thereby creating a unity throughout the picture.

if you have a sketch you could use then do have a go at this, if not, you are welcome to use mine as your reference point.
If you have never bothered with sketching, it might inspire you to begin a sketchbook once you realise how useful having these drawings can be.

Simple subjects to paint during lockdown

I mentioned in yesterdays post that you could perhaps draw or indeed paint, buttons.

This is my little button painting.

These buttons were in sunshine, so there were some nice shadows to paint too.

Painted on Bockingford 140lb not surface watercolour paper.

A simple subject.

Another is matches.

A simple subject which most of us have in the house.
Again painted on Bockingford 140lb not surface watercolour paper.

How about shells.
These were painted on the same paper.

Many of us have a collection of beach combing items which make lovely subjects.

The smallest of subjects can be perfect.

Perhaps you could start a daily sketch book, or a journal about your "lock down" experience. Painting or drawing depending on how you feel that day or the subject you have chosen.


Just a few ideas for you to keep going!

Drawing - reach for the cupboard

You don't need a scenic view or a still-life set up to have something to draw.
At art college in the late 70's we had to draw tins of food in both black and white and also in colour, reminiscent of the Andy Warhol 'Campbell's' soup tin and 'Coke' bottle images.
I recall also painting empty room layouts with central heating pipes and odd bits of plumbing, but using vibrant blocks of flat gouache, resulting in an abstract composition that resembled a room. Moving into surface design, this observational drawing habit set me on a path for life.

Today I have chosen a simple geometric subject for you, don't worry if yours turns out a bit wonky or doesn't 'look right' just enjoy the process of looking and drawing.

Liquorice All sorts.

Put a clean sheet of white A4 paper on the table in front of you.
With clean hands or gloves (because you are probably going to eat a few of these after you have drawn them) place a selection of sweets on the paper. Try and select ones that are very different, dark ones, light ones, striped ones, this will make your drawing more interesting.

Use a pencil and perhaps a putty eraser and off you go!

If you have some colouring pencils, even better. Once you have had a go at a black and white version, you can then rearrange your composition and do it in colour.

A good tip for you is to blend your colouring pencils rather like you would mix paint. You can manage with surprisingly few colours.
Just because you don't have the exact colour doesn't mean you wont be able to create it.



Another subject which works well is Buttons. 
I have a button box with buttons in all different shapes and sizes, they can also be a good subject, make sure you select a few in different sizes and colours, with and without holes.

Radio on, or some music playing - what a calm way to spend an hour or two.
Stay home - stay safe.

Adding a background - for the beginner

Backgrounds are often considered as an after thought but it is preferable to consider the backgrounds either at the start of your painting, or near the start.

Working forward from yesterdays post this should take you to the next step.

Incorporating your flower into the background from the start - begin as before with the centre of the flower, attach that first petal, then wet the background to the right of that petal allowing the brush to touch the petal edge and inviting that Magenta to run into the background.
Do the same with the lower petal.
Let it dry, then follow the next stage.

You can begin with this next stage if you have a flower study already complete.
Using a dark green (Midnight Green) and my Classic round brush to create an outer edge of the lower left petal using the tip of the brush, then sweep out some strokes away from the flower. Then using the Golden Leaf brush (which is a large wash brush)  I wet the adjoining area, catching the green paint and allowing it to run into the wet section. I add some turquoise to the wet area to vary the colour. This same technique is repeated at the top of the flower.

This needs to dry.




I use my Pyramid brush for this next stage, you may also use a sword liner or if you have neither of those, your Classic round.

Using the same strong Midnight Green, I suggest squiggly leaf shapes, allowing the brush to dance on the paper. I am not painting actual 'leaves' but instead suggesting leaves.

Whilst this is wet, I use the spritzer in the same way as in yesterdays post. Shielding the flower by cupping my hand and spraying the water onto the wet paint.

This will diffuse the hard edges and create a more subtle foliage effect.

This is the result, suggesting leaves rather than painting any specific leaves. 

Remember this is a background. The original photo used in yesterdays post was our 'reference' point, not to slavishly copy.

I hope you have a go at this, or use the techniques to paint something similar.

An Anemone flower for the beginner

During this difficult times when so many of us are isolated and needing to switch off from the news, a simple painting project can be the perfect thing to enable us to concentrate on something else and give our minds a break!

You may remember if you follow my posts that before the 'lock down' I bought some plants from the garden centre, the flowers of which have now begun to open. I had no idea that anemones close when there is no sun (sorry for my ignorance here) so they remained tight shut for quite some time before, voila! the sun came out and I had a burst of magical colour!

To keep things easy for us, I'm not going to use the flower in front of me, because you can't see it, so we will use this image together.

If you would like to paint this with me, you will need

• A sheet of not surface watercolour paper (this has a medium texture on it) 140lb weight.
• A round brush in a size 12 (no smaller than a 10) I shall be using my Classic Round.
• A round brush in a size 6 I shall be using my Pointer brush.
• A spritzer or water spray with a fine mist (avoid the large splattery ones)
• Watercolour paint either pans or tubes.
• Embossing tool or toothpick
• Water pot

To begin, if you want to draw some outlines, do, but for your first study I suggest you don't. I realise this might seem scary, but I want you to relax and have a go at these techniques. They may be new to you, so experiment and don't worry about what its going to look like.

We are going to begin with the centre of the flower, so using a dark Indigo or Shadow colour, make sure the brush has plenty of paint in it and paint a round blob, look at the photo and paint a series of small dots around the blob, then using a small embossing tool tease the wet paint from each of the blobs back towards the centre.

Whilst the paint is still wet (very important) use your spritzer and pump it once. A light spatter of water droplets will disperse some of the colour. If nothing seems to happen, use the spritzer again, but avoid over doing this or you will end up with a puddle.

Whilst this is still wet we can begin to paint the petals. 

Use any colour in your box which is similar to the colour of the flower, if you don't have the exact colour, use something similar. 

Mix a lovely big pool of strong colour, load up your brush and using the whole brush, begin at the end of the petal and move the brush towards the centre without lifting the brush off the paper.

Allow the Magenta to touch the dark section, then pull the brush back and lift it using the point to draw the shape of the petal before lifting the brush off the paper. Clean the brush or use a second brush which has only clean water in it and wet the remaining shape of the first petal, allowing the Magenta to flood into that shape.

Using the same wet brush, (just water, no colour) paint the wet shape of the second petal, allowing the brush to gently touch the first petal, inviting the colour to move into the adjoining section.
Notice how wet this is.

If your brush is too dry (not loaded enough) it will all dry too fast and you wont get the same effect.
Still using water, touch the dark centre (still wet) dragging the brush back towards the rest of the wet petal inviting that dark colour to run.
If you leave a dry gap, the paint wont cross this, so any light areas you want to create can be done this way.

Yours will not look the same as mine. If I painted another flower, it would not be the same as this one. Make sure you regularly look at the photo for the petal shapes and where the light petals are as well as the dark sections.

Ideally we want to continue, we don't want it to dry, but if it does, just keep going.


Using the same technique as our first petal, use the whole bush again, keeping it on the paper, as if you are moulding the shape of the petal, rather than stroking or dabbing the brush onto the paper.

As the paint settles into the paper and dilutes with the water already on the surface it will lighten so adding more Magenta to suggest separate petals can be done at this stage.

Using my Pointer brush I gently tap the paper, each tap releases colour out of the tip of the brush.

Each time I do this, I am not only adding colour but re-wetting this section. 

You can continue to paint the entire flower in this way, or take the chance to create a more painterly effect by using the spritzer again.

If you are happy with your first effort, complete it, without taking any chances then have another go using the spritzer on your second one.

For those of you wanting to take some risks.... lets go! 
Whilst the flower is still wet, spritz water onto the left and top petals.
These are the ones on the photo in sunlight. Allow the colour to diffuse.
Don't be tempted to prod it.
Don't worry that you seem to be 'losing' the petal shapes, we will suggest them again later.

At this point, walk away. Don't watch!

Now that its dry, suggesting the petals again is easy. 

Using the tip of my Classic brush, I draw the outer shape of the petal.
These can remain a 'hard edge' or softened with water suggesting a softer edge.

Where the pink has run into the background area, this could imply a bud in the future, especially when incorporated into a background.

To soften this edge, wet the petal with water allowing the wet brush to touch the colour at the edge. The colour will move into the wet section. 

The same can be done to suggest any other petals.
The result is a much softer one than if you don't use the spritzer


I hope you have enjoyed this post, and that you have a few goes at it, this should keep you busy for a couple of days.

Tomorrow I will show you how to add a bit of background, so that you can take things a bit further. 

Meanwhile, stay home and stay safe.

Spring Flowers Part 2

This next stage of the painting is exciting as I rely on the properties of the paint to create some lovely effects for me. 
It's worth having some experimental time on a spare piece of paper to see what effects you can create with your paints. It took a while before I perfected certain techniques achieving effects I especially liked, not only that, but deciding where and when to use these effects is also important.

When you create a lovely effect, try not to over use it by adding it all over your picture, just because you can, doesn't mean you should. It starts to look a bit 'gimmicky' if you over use these effects.

For this lovely effect the main point to remember is that wet paint will only run into wet adjoining sections. Any dry areas will remain untouched.
If you want paint to move, you may need to tilt your board, in some cases a jolt may be necessary, or the addition of more liquid to encourage it to move.

The dark green I use naturally granulates. In other words, when applied, the pigments separate into the dips of the watercolour surface, creating a textured appearance, this can be enhanced by encouraging the paint to flow in a certain direction, suggesting rivulets of texture. (Daniel Smith paints tend to granulate profusely)

Imagine however, if my entire painting was covered in such textures? For this sort of subject, I need some colours to be smooth and 'flat' whilst others create the textures.
Tip - If none of your paints granulate, don't worry, carry on, you can perhaps add a tiny amount of salt to your wet dark green to create texture. It wont be the same, but it will look great. Use the salt sparingly, remember each grain will create a tiny star burst.

Using my Pyramid brush and dark green I scribble onto the paper with the tip of the brush allowing some parts of the paper to remain dry. Adding some water I carefully paint around the shapes of the flower petals to create the hard edge, then using my Classic 12 brush wet with clean water I add a wet area for this paint to run into, catching the edge whilst this is still wet. I lift the board up on the right allowing the paint to move into the wet section, adding the lighter green paint and water where necessary.
Leave to dry on a tilt if necessary.

Using my Classic round brush I paint the stems, allowing them to touch and overlap, and suggesting a direction movement by flicking the paint towards the right.
I add water nearer the large leaf shape to give the appearance that this was painted at the same time. (Of course, it was painted yesterday and completely dry) 

Its all beginning to form a lively composition now much larger than the original drawing, hence the need to draw in the middle of a larger sheet of paper at the start.

I am now going to start to work on the hyacinths again, making them merge a little into the background. This time I am going to use a granulating purple, however, if you don't have one, don't worry, just carry on.
Using my Classic 12 brush, I apply blobs of very wet purple allowing them settle into the paper. (it doesn't matter if this purple is different from the first one I used) Don't rush this bit, you need to allow the pigments to settle into the paper. It you are impatient, the best effects will be lost.

Using a clean wet brush I wet the right side of the flower as close as I dare to the wet sections, then when I am ready I allow the point of the brush to touch the paint inviting it to pour into the wet area, tilting the board to encourage the paint to move in the direction I want it to go.

This is a close up of what it looks like when the separated pigments begin to move gently into the wet area giving the impression that the whole flower was painted at one time.
This takes time to understand and control, it doesn't just 'happen'.Once you know how to create the effect each time you need it, that's when you have a new technique. If its a 'happy accident' that's great, but unpredictable.

This is the stage when I add more of the brighter green, creating the edge of the lighter flowers and washing the colour into the background as previously.
Linking the stems with the leaves in the same way.

Finally, just the shadow areas are needed on the flowers.
For this I use my original purple. Not the one that granulates, but the one I used right at the start of the painting. Using my Classic 12 and a very dilute wash I then add a little shadow to some of the flowers. I do this by holding the flower in sunlight in the position within the composition, and painting the shadows where i see them. I do them all at once using the same light. If there is no sunlight, then directional natural daylight is also good, but I would avoid artificial lighting.

Perhaps you could paint a small posy to begin with? You don't have to paint such a large painting as this, but what ever size you chose, make sure you begin in the centre of a larger piece of paper than you would imagine, as those wet washes need space. 
My next post will be something for more of the beginner, so if this seemed really tricky, the next one might be more suitable for you.
Thanks for reading, and stay safe at home at this difficult time.