Studio Notes: Lessons from magnolias

One subject, limited references, multiple techniques

If you have been here for some time, you know how much I love painting and drawing magnolias! They are a constant theme in my art - their delicacy, elegance and ethereal blooms don’t cease to inspire me. For me the extraordinary shape of the magnolias together with the transient nature of a blooming flower call for expressive and bold interpretations in paint. I want to share with you some of my most recent magnolias and create a little gallery of studies I made.

Within this project I have been predominantly creating from 8 reference photos of blooming magnolias and my goal has been to push my process forward, experiment and explore directions within my art practice. Focusing on one subject and limited references helps to avoid decision fatigue and means that I only need to move between techniques and supplies, which are also limited (paper, paint, some pens and pencils).

I focused on simplifying shapes, being more expressive and becoming confident with colour, value and composition through the multiple experiments I made.

The main idea was to create a lot of studies and to try various techniques in order to figure out the process I enjoy repeating, and of course not everything I have done was successful. Some of my works left me frustrated, because I was too tight and ended up overworking the pieces, especially when working in acrylics.

Finding a creative process that you love

As always the secret is to keep pushing - with every iteration I loosened up more and more and started experimenting with unlikely colours, looser brush strokes and leaving out fine details. As soon as I relaxed and started being bolder with colour and shape, my works started having a completely different feel - more authentic, raw and expressive. Also I realised that if a medium doesn’t work for me in a specific way I can always use several mediums in one piece combining their individual advantages to the benefit of the piece as a whole.

Magnolias gallery

Thumbnail sketches from my 8 references made in a Payne’s grey pencil

Thumbnail sketches created with a black ink pen

Watercolour paint + watercolour pencils

Value studies created with pen brushes

Acrylics + coloured pencils

Acrylics, watercolour and coloured pencils on Kraft paper and watercolour paper

Acrylics, watercolours, coloured pencil

Moving forward

I created a ton of studies, but I am still very much figuring out what works and what doesn’t. It is how the creative process works and I am enjoying the journey. I think the main advice is not being precious about the studies, because it’s just an exercise to grow, loosen up and explore new things.

This project hasn’t been about creating finished artwork, but about finding my artistic preferences, experimenting and, well, having fun!

On the topic of having fun - most recently I have been trying to work on different papers and I LOVED to work on kraft and toned paper - an idea I got from

La Scarlatte

. I really loved working on Strathmore Toned Tan, it can hold some water and thin layers of acrylics quite well. Currently I am trying various combinations using acrylics, watercolour and coloured pencils. The paintings just have a completely different feel when working with a coloured background! Also I want to move from my sketchbooks to larger substrates, which means more magnolias to come!

Thank you for reading and being here! Feel free to share this post with a creative friend and I’ll be happy to hear from you in the comments!

Until next time!

Lisa