25 Oct A Beginner’s Guide to Brushwork, Lesson #11

My thorough enjoyment of the handicraft, brushwork, continues today, as we move on to brushwork, lesson #11. This lesson is titled, Lesson of Scylla, and is a natural follow-up from lesson #10, a lesson on the scylla. As we previously learned the scylla (also spelled scilla) is a beautiful blue flower from the hyacinth family. It blooms in the early spring, typically in Europe, Africa, and Asia, with intense blue star-shaped blossoms. The face of the flower is generally faced downwards. As we work through the book, Brushwork Elementary Brush-Forms by Marion Hudson, we are gently guided to practice brush forms which can be adapted into all shapes of flowers and greenery. It’s absolutely exhilarating to see how far we’ve come from where we started! It gives me hope that someday, with lots of practice, I can actually become a watercolor painter!

Redrawing the Design on Our Grid Paper

As we’ve mentioned in previous lessons, your grid paper is probably going to be different than that in the book. I say this because I looked everywhere for grid paper that was similar to the book yet never found it. So, we settled for what we could find. I would estimate that the grid paper in the book is about 1/2″ squares. Our grid paper is twice that, with 1″ square grid paper. As well, our grid paper is probably a different size overall. Because of this, the pattern in the book does not translate well onto my 1″ grid paper, so with each lesson I am redrawing the design with a few adjustments, as you can see below.

Materials Needed

• The book, Brushwork, Elementary Brush-Forms by Marion Hudson (also available online HERE)
• 1″ absorbent grid paper
• Watercolor paints
• Watercolor Paintbrush, we used Princeton Velvetouch round size 8 for the blue, and Princeton Velvetouch round size 6 for the green
• A glass of water (not used for drinking)
• A small plate for mixing paint and water
• A napkin to dry the brush

Happy Handicrafts Video: A Beginner’s Guide to Brushwork, Lesson #11

As in previous lessons, this lesson will only use two paint colors – blue and green. We started with the blue a slightly larger paint brush. Once all of the blue was painted, I changed the brush to a 4 round and completed the lesson. I changed brushes because having painted scylla in lesson #10, I knew I wanted the flower pedals and buds to be full-bodied, and the stems to be thinner. It’s not what was recommended in the book, but it’s what worked better for us.

The flower blossoms and buds are all made using the brush forms that we’ve learned in previous lessons. The green stems took a little bit of practice, as they require a steady hand. This is where is it very helpful to use correct form, resting the weight of your hand on your pinky finger and moving your arm at the shoulder level, instead of the elbow or wrist. I suggest practicing on a separate piece of paper before committing to the final draft.

Follow Us!

Be sure to follow along on our YouTube channel, Happy Handicrafts, where all of these descriptions are paired with video to make things so much easier for you! There you will also find other handicrafts that you may want to incorporate into your homeschool curriculum. We create these videos in our own homeschool to be able to help others who may struggle with the creative side. Come join us – we’re crafty so you don’t have to be!