30 Aug A Beginner’s Guide to Brushwork, Lesson #7

We are progressing to Lesson #7, in our brushwork series, from the book, Brushwork Elementary Brush-Forms by Marion Hudson. Brushwork, Lesson #7 is a natural progression from Lesson #6 which had us painting rose hips and their leaves. Today we are going to be using the skills we learned, by painting a design of rose hips and their leaves.

Once again, as in lesson #6, the grid paper used in the book is a different size than the one we are using. So, once again, I adjusted the design a little bit so that the pattern would fit onto our grid. My version is 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 6 or round size 8
• A glass of water (not used for drinking)
• A small plate for mixing paint and water
• A napkin to dry the brush
• A bunch of rose hips, or pictures of them

Happy Handicrafts Video: A Beginner’s Guide to Brushwork Lesson 7

Hopefully you’ve been following along in our brushwork series and have already completed brushwork, lesson #6. Lesson #6 will guide you through the steps of brushwork, lesson #7.

Before even starting, talk with the students about rose hips. Incorporate this lesson into a nature study, or at least (like us) have some pictures and videos that can allow some level of observation and examination.

Start your lesson with the color red, painting each flower, along with their stalks and calyx. The purpose of staying with one color at a time is first to prevent the mixing of colors. There is a time and place for mixing. Completing one color at a time also allows you to set out the pattern clearly, counting squares and lines as needed.

Once you have finished with the red color, wipe your brush carefully on a napkin, to remove as much of the red color as possible. There is naturally going to be a small amount of color left – which is great, because this color is going to mix with the green, creating the brown that we need for the stalks and calyx.

Load your brush with the green paint and begin where you want to see the brown color. Before doing the leaves, paint over the stalks and calyx. Then proceed to finish with the green leaves and their stems.

I worked on this lesson a lot! Lots of practice! But by the time I took the above picture, I can say that I’m quite proud of the design that I painted! Hopefully by now, you are feeling much more control of the brush and paint! If not, practice some more! And then some more! Not only does this improve your results, but it is calming and enjoyable!

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!