Beginner Watercolor Leaves | Lily of the Nile

[@70bootsie]

I really enjoyed watching you. Your paintings are beautiful.

[@LauraWatsonArt]

Thank you!

[@VElaineA]

Great video Laura. I enjoyed watching it.

[@LauraWatsonArt]

Thank you so much, glad you enjoyed it!

[@lisanealy1456]

Hi Laura, another great video. How about a hydrangea leaf for future? But really, any leaves would be great! I would love to see the flower part video for the Lily of the Nile too. Also, how do you approach the drawing? That's my trouble. I can't draw, so a lot of times I get frustrated because I can't even draw the pic, and I don't ever even get to try the painting.

[@LauraWatsonArt]

Hi Lisa, thanks for commenting :) Hydrangea leaves are a great idea! Yes, I wished I had gotten the flower part of the Lily of the Nile on film... I filmed it with no memory card in the camera! My best drawing tip for you is to just trace a picture of a plant for now and then transfer it to watercolour paper, there is no shame in tracing! I do it all the time to save time.

[@waymire01]

Trace. You can use the old fashioned tracing paper/graphite paper route.. if you have a printed photo you can use a lightpad or window. Lightpads are cheap these days I got mine for about $25 on Amazon. If you have the right printer (pigment based inkjet or laser printer, back side feed) you can print onto watercolor paper. Reduce the quality unless you want a black line for pen/wash appearance. I use coloring pages a lot.. you can find tons of them in pdf format on Etsy including gorgeous botanicals. Don't let the drawing hold you back, I've never been a good pencil artist but I have painted for decades, they are two different skills.

[@LauraWatsonArt]

What types of leaves are you interested in learning to paint in the future? Comment below and let me know :)