Forget me nots – Stephanie Richey Art

For some reason Forget-Me-Not flowers have been on my mind lately, and with the large amounts of snow we’ve had over the last few days I have wanted to paint, just for the color associated. So, no wintery scenes for me yesterday, just blue forget-me-nots. This one, I decided to also record for a time lapse video for my YouTube channel Stephanie Richey Art. It took me about 2 1/2 hours to paint, but the timelapse is about 12 minutes. The first 2 minutes or so are not time lapsed, just so I can show you my supplies and the colors I used.

I will show you here some of the preparation steps that go into the process of the painting before I get to the point of painting. The first thing I always do is get a reference photo, or several reference photos actually. Unless it is my own picture or one that I have permission from the photographer to use. I love the site Pixabay for reference photos as they are copyright free photos and can be used for commercial or private use. But I still like to use a couple of reference photos. This step takes a while, sometimes the subject matter isn’t as common so there are fewer good pictures, but a lot of times I get distracted and start looking at other things. It’s a great place for ideas and inspiration.

The next step is to make a sketch of what I might like to paint. If I have a personal photo, I skip this step and usually just transfer over to the paper without the sketch. But I have found that the sketch helps me see the subject better, become more familiar with all the parts of the picture, and, if it’s a large, complicated painting, the sketch helps me remember which parts are which so when I go to paint it, I don’t paint a leaf the color of the petal, or fill in the background with a foreground color accidently, and mistakes like that.

The image above is the original sketch that was drawn in pencil. I then outline with a fine tipped sharpie once I am pleased with the sketch, so that it is easy to see and then decide if I like the size. Some pictures I will sketch the actual size, this one I used a scrap piece of cardstock and sketched it on that, knowing I would have to enlarge the image when I was done. I will usually draw the image no bigger than a regular sheet of paper because I like to keep the sketch for possible use or reference later. At the very least I will copy the image to a different piece of paper for transferring onto the watercolor paper. This one I decided to enlarge so that it filled more of the 8×8 inch watercolor paper I was using. The below picture is the original outlined in sharpie, and the enlarged picture below the original sketch.

I then scribble on the back of the copied and/or enlarged picture with a regular pencil so that when I place it on my watercolor paper, I can trace the image on the right side, and it will transfer over to the watercolor paper. Usually it transfers fairly light, sometimes I have to go over it with a pencil to see specific details, but more often I have to go over it lightly with an eraser to lighten the lines, so they don’t show through in the finished piece. For this painting I used a Windsor Blue, Yellow Ochre, Permanent Rose, Sap Green, and a little bit of Lemon Yellow in the centers, as well as a hot press paper, as it gives the petals a much smoother look than a cold press, which would make a grainier looking painting.

My cheap phone camera really doesn’t take very good pictures, but I’ll digitize it later. I love these pretty forget-me-nots. I really enjoyed the color as a change from the white, white snow. And, as the title of this post indicates, I have a timelapse of this painting on my YouTube channel as well: Forget-Me-Not Timelapse

I love Forget-me-nots, and they are Alaska’s state flower. I have painted several paintings of forget-me-nots and have not liked any of them. That is until now. I finally found a couple of reference photos that I liked and was able to get this picture composition. Every time I am at a show, especially in the summer with visitors, people always ask if I have a painting of these beautiful flowers, because they are a reminder of their trip to Alaska. Finally, this year I can say, “Yes!”

I have also been learning a lot about paper types. When I started painting, I just used the paper that you buy at Wal-Mart or Michael’s. It is a wood pulp paper and doesn’t hold the water or the color very well. However, I have several paintings that I love that I painted on this type of paper, and I still love them. I do however have them digitized and saved so that if they do fade or something happens to them at least I have the digital file.

Cotton watercolor paper is made of cotton of course, and it stretches and holds water and color much better than pulp paper. It also “stains” better, so the finished painting will last much longer than one painted on wood pulp paper. It comes in 3 main types, Rough, Cold-pressed, and Hot-pressed. I have never tried the rough paper, mostly because I just have never bought any. One of these days I’ll try it out and see if I like it. If you have any recommendations of what kind of picture to paint on rough watercolor paper, let me know! When I started painting, I only used cold-press paper. It is still the main type of paper I use still, and the most readily available locally. Cold-press is not a smooth paper but has a slight texture. Paint will “pool” in the little recessed areas and create a textured appearance to the finished painting. It’s very similar to painting with acrylic on canvas as canvas also has the textured surface.

When I learned how to paint botanical paintings however, I was introduced to the hot-press paper. This is a very smooth surface, perfect for getting smooth petals on flowers and creating smooth skin on portraits. I have found that I love hot-press paper, and the above picture of the Forget-Me-Nots was done on an 8-inch x 8-inch Arches hot-press paper. So, if you are just starting out, I would highly recommend buying cotton paper, even though it is a little more expensive. I love Arches paper, but there are a lot of different manufacturers of cotton paper, most of them aren’t available at local art supply stores however, so you have to look online for the different options. I would also recommend getting a variety of types, the rough, cold-pressed and hot-pressed papers, just to experiment and see which one you like the most. If you’re like me, you’ll like different papers for different subjects.

If you have a bunch of the student grade, wood pulp papers, they work great for art projects that you don’t mind if they don’t last forever. I have uploaded an Easy Valentine Cards video to my YouTube channel that uses the wood pulp paper (see above pictures), simply because most valentines get thrown away anyway, so it’s not worth the money to buy the nicer paper for those kinds of projects. This project is really quick, well, depending on how long you take to decorate them, and they are super fun for kids to make because the painting doesn’t have to be specific or perfect. If you make some cards, I would love to see your finished product!