Rosemary Sprig : Decorative Border - Preview

Hi fellow watercolour painters, this week we are putting the finishing touches to the vegetable page after many, many months and lots of tutorials.

Using a small sprig and single leaves of the Rosemary, I have made a pretty border around all of the vegetables. This tutorial is a nice, quick tutorial that just gets repeated around the page as you like it.

I have placed it as a 'one brush' tutorial because we used just a couple of small brushes and very simple strokes. This should be a good tutorial to teach you how to use your brush on its tiptoe. I know how difficult this is, so I know it is a great thing for you to practice. Perhaps try this on some scrap paper first before you add it as a border to any of your vegetable or fruit paintings.

As with all my tutorials, it's really important to let each little stage dry. Even if you make a little mistake, always let it dry before you come back and try to perfect it. That way, you won't spread the mistake further than you want.

This week, we have also added a new tutorial to our sketchbook feature, we are painting the seed case of the Colutea Arborescens. It's a simple little pod, which is a lovely subject to practice giving volume to botanical subjects.

Why not fill the page with these little studies and really get to grips with keeping the light and mixing the soft colours to create the correct transparent browns. Have fun adding any significant details that you notice while you are painting, perhaps make notes on the colours you have mixed or research interesting facts about the plant to add along the side of your illustrations.

Above all, I hope you have fun with the two tutorials that come out this week.

Peace and gentle rain and a bit of sun upon your bonnets.
Billy x