Little did I know that when I began this white flower painting tutorial, it would take me one complete year to finish. I will talk more about why that happened and how I overcame the motivation block.

This White Flower and Tulip watercolor was a request from a client and friend who owns several of my oil paintings.

I will demonstrate how I mix colors to create interesting the grey tones for the white flower.

It’s helpful to have a piece of test paper close by to see if test if your mixed greys are too warm or too cool before committing them on the paper.

Watercolor Tutorial for White Flowers and Soft Tulips

Use a smaller brush with a bit of a tip from your collection.

The technique here is Wet-onto-Dry with clear water feathering out some of the edges that need to blend out to a lighter value.

The warm yellow center is Wet-into-Wet. I’m dropping in the color and moving it around. My shadow colors lean towards lavender and so these are complimentary colors. 

Add just enough water to allow the paint to stay where you want it to…and also spread out to where you want the color to fade…and that’s why you see a paper towel. Through the entire process I’ll be touching my brush to the paper towel to help control the amount of water that I’m introducing to the paper.

My source is my client’s photo. The shades of grey in the shadows will change through the painting. Colors from the center of the flower will also reflect into the shadows as sunlight was bouncing through my client’s flower arrangement.

If you add too much color, just dab it with your paper towel to control the paint or water. You can also then manipulate the color again with a brush.

Soft pink and peach colors will be mixed with greys for the tulip petals.

Overcoming a Motivational Block

This time last spring, I experienced what many artists would describe as a motivational block that was triggered by a health crisis. This entire situation had been building over a couple of years.

I’ve experienced smaller bouts of burn-out before…every artist does but this time felt different and it quickly became apparent that it would be more prolonged.

Literally changing my diet and creating a big focus on exercise slowly brought stability back into my body and mind. I knew that I had to prepare and transform my Mind + Body for my next 50 years as an artist.

Tony Robins said it perfectly: Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.

***My One focus for the last year became my health. I had to let go of the 15 other focuses that come with running a successful art business. 

Fulfillment of my custom requested works of art were the only works of art that I put life into. These included large chandeliers that then needed crates built to ship…and oil paintings and mixed-media work. These works received my full attention.

One year later, I feel different, wiser and less frazzled…and I’m Motivated and excited again to engage more in my art business.

Starting Again

Starting Again can be difficult. It bothered me that I didn’t have the capacity to focus on completing this tutorial for my friend. Editing video also takes a lot of patience. I’m grateful I’ve regained patience and interest.

If you have a work of art you’ve set aside…and if it’s calling for completion, I recommend clearing your workspace and setting up fresh in one day. The next day you are ready to focus on painting.

That’s what I did here.

I simply willed myself to sit down and restart. This small watercolor only took another half hour to finish.

Setting-up up to film took longer than the painting.

Finishing this small painting brings a feeling of accomplishment…even if it’s not my grandest work of art.

What’s Coming Up

My next videos will feature my most recent, newest commissioned works of art including a 30×60 3d Mixed media Ocean and Tide Pool painting…a couple of LARGE painted glass chandeliers, two of which feature vineyards and flowers.

One of the next videos will also feature a commissioned oil painting of a favorite beach on Big Island, Hawaii. I will show you some of that creation process and I’ll explain how I brought my client’s idea into reality.

If there are flowers or beaches you’d love to see me paint, leave a comment below or send me an email through my website.

Going forward, I will be Mixing small beginner-to-intermediate painting tutorials along with videos showing me creating larger works of art that are in-line with my more serious art, the art that I sell through galleries and through my website.

Thank you for Watching

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