Painting a Vignette: Designing as you Paint!

Betsy says, "My book title is Painting From the Inside Out.  There is a chapter called "Say It with Flowers" that will have seven approaches to painting flowers.  The book contains lots of improvisational and spontaneous exercises designed to "free the creative spirit."  It is a multi-media book in that I work both with acrylic and watercolor.  It will be published by Northlight in April, 2002--that's the last word I have!" Printed with permission of her publisher.

  First, let me define a vignette, as I know it, and as my teacher Naomi Brotherton from Texas taught me.    A vignette is a painting which leaves four white corners, all of different size, dimension, and shape.  Second, the vignette often has a “soft piece,” or a part of the composition which is an amorphous shape.  In other words, an ambiguous wash placed somewhere in your composition.  This soft piece helps tie your design together and provides a “resting place” next to your hard -edged flowers.  When you challenge yourself by drawing with a brush, you increase your skills immeasurably as well as improve your confidence.   

See photos of the painting in progress.

 1 .     Change the color and value as you go along.

2.      Start at the top and work downward, so that the paint will flow with gravity.

3.      Work all over your composition.  For example, after you complete flowers on the right, move over to the left and paint a few shapes.

4.     Drop in color as you go along and let watercolor do its magic.

5.      Think of the flowers as “symbols.”  The real flower is in nature or in front of you in a vase.  Invent shapes and colors expressively and enjoy the creative journey you are able to take.

6.     Allow the wet shapes to flow together in places.  This “merging of form” creates a visual segue that will tie your painting together.

7.     Decide where to put your “soft piece.”  Mine is in the center and was done by first wetting the paper, and then, dropping in several pigments—ultramarine and  sap green.  Before I painted the purple flowers over it, I let that area dry.  Your soft piece should not take up more than 1/6^th of your composition.

8.      With a vignette, less is better.  Don’t define too much.  Let your color express the joy you feel when painting flowers.

 Go for it!