24 Jan A Beginner’s Guide to Brushwork, Lesson #16

Our brushwork lesson this week was the most fun so far! We have finally dared to abandon our trusty grid and allowed ourselves to paint sprays of laburnum freely. It was liberating and maybe even a little exhilarating! We are working through the book, Brushwork Elementary Brush-Forms by Marion Hudson and today we are doing brushwork lesson #16, which is a lesson on laburnum.

The laburnum is a small ornamental tree best known for its long, drooping clusters of bright yellow flowers that bloom in late spring. It is native to central and southern Europe and grows best in cool, temperate climates – clearly why we have never had the pleasure of seeing one. We live in the southern United States where the climate tends to be neither cool, nor temperate. An interesting fact about the laburnum tree is that all parts of it – especially the seeds – are extremely toxic to humans and animals if ingested. 

Redrawing the Design on Our Grid Paper

As 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 a Princeton Velvetouch , round size 6
• 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 #16

The Process

Once again, we will be using only two colors for this project – yellow and green.

Using my grid paper as a guide, I began by painting the laburnum flowers in yellow along the top of my paper. The flowers are made with two overlapping brush forms, beginning with one on the vertical line, and the second either to the right or the left of the first.

Charlotte Mason may frown at me for this, but I decided to switch to the green paint once I had completed the top three rows of laburnum.

The calyx is painted with two touches of green, layering over the flower.

I then went on to paint the leaves down each side of the paper and then the branch in the middle with leaves sprouting out from it. From the branch I painted two thin stalks, then switched back to the yellow paint. The laburnum flowers were painted on each side, down the length of the stalk. At the end the flowers became buds. I then added the calyx and stems to the flowers.

The project was finished by drawing a separation of the flower pedals with a brown marker. It was also used to detail the branch.

Come Join Us!

If you’re just finding us, you can get started with our first brushwork lesson and advance according to your skill. All of our videos are stored on YouTube at Happy Handicrafts. You don’t have to start with brushwork – we have paper sloyd, needle-felting, crochet, and more. Go explore and choose which playlist will be the best for you and your family! We’ll see you there!