This project makes use of masking fluid to reserve white paper for the plant’s spiky needles. Blue masking fluid is much easier to see on the page than the white variety. Make sure your painting is completely dry before you rub off the fluid, to avoid contaminating or smudging the paint.
MATERIALS
› Hot-pressed watercolor paper
› Pencil
› Old round brush
› Blue liquid masking fluid
› Mixing palette
› Scrap watercolor paper for color testing
› Water jars
› No. 10 round brush
› No. 4 round brush
› No. 00 round brush
Sap Green
Lemon Yellow
Hooker’s Green
Raw Sienna
Base color
Sap Green
Midtone
Sap Green + Lemon Yellow
Dark tone
Sap Green + Hooker’s Green
Plant pot
Raw Sienna
1/ You can draw your own cactus by starting with the central section and adding sections to the left and right to create the spherical shape.
This doesn’t have to be perfect, and any irregularities can create character! Sketch in the plant pot, ensuring the cactus appears to be sitting comfortably in the soil, rather than floating on top.
2/ Use the old round brush to paint small dots and irregular marks of masking fluid to indicate the positions of the needles. Return to the first dot and move some of the fluid already on the page outwards to create a needle. The best way to do this is with a quick flicking motion, so the mark looks sporadic. Only do this with some of the dots, applying more masking fluid if necessary. Let dry fully.
3/ Use the No. 10 round brush to add a thin layer of water to each section of the cactus. Don’t apply too much water, since you need to be able to control where the pigment is going. Apply Sap Green to each section, leaving some patches of white for the highlights. Keep this wash quite diluted. While this is still wet, add the yellow-green midtone mix to the top and bottom of each section, and at the section edges, to give them definition. Let the two colors mix on the page.
4/ While the page is still wet, add in the darkest green mix. The mix should have more pigment than water so that the color value increases while still mixing with the pigment already on the page. Add this darker green at the top of the cactus and where the plant meets the soil to show the curves of the cactus shape and the shadows underneath the plant. Paint curved vertical lines of the dark mix on the ridges where the needles are masked out. Let dry.
5/ Now work wet on dry, using the darkest green and the No. 4 round brush, to go over the ridge lines painted in step 4. Use a mix with less water to pigment to create deliberate, controlled marks. For a more abstract design, use less line work here, adding small marks to suggest where the ridges are. To create extra contrast you can also add more of the yellow-green midtone at the edges of the dark lines.
6/ With the wet No. 10 brush and a good amount of pigment, paint a horizontal line of Raw Sienna along the rim of the plant pot. Rinse the brush, load it with water and use it to drag the pigment down to the bottom of the pot, creating a gradient effect. Use the No. 4 brush to apply a light Raw Sienna wash for the soil. When this is dry, take the same brown but with more pigment to water on the brush and use a dotting motion to paint the rough soil texture. Add definition to the pot by using clean lines of Raw Sienna to indicate the shadows at the edges and base.
7/ Once the painting is completely dry, lightly rub over the masking fluid with a fingertip to reveal the white negative space beneath it. Any areas that are undefined or a little clumpy can be corrected by working back into the painting with a wet brush and pigment to refine and balance any mistakes. Use the No. 00 round brush and diluted Raw Sienna to paint the needles on top of the plant.
