Painting these watercolor floral numbers have become a tradition these past few years. As I paint it, I reflect on the past year and think about goals for the new year. In this post I want to focus more on the goals. If you want to follow along in real-time, you can watch the video below because I discuss my goals there, too!
Supplies:
- Paint: LUKAS Aquarell 1862 Watercolor
- Brush(es): Creative Mark’s Mimik Kolinsky round sizes 1 and 3
- Paper: Stonehenge cold pressed Watercolor Paper
- Pencil
- Kneaded eraser
- Sketch of numbers 2 0 2 3
- Jars of water
- Paper towel or cotton rag
- All of my favorite supplies here
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General Helpful Tips
1. Mix colors ahead of time
Ever run out of a perfectly mixed color? It’s super frustrating! Before you start any painting, make sure you mix enough of your mixed color so that you don’t run into this problem. This is one reason why some people prefer to use tube paints (vs pan paints).
Always use a scratch piece of paper to swatch your colors.
2. Lightly sketch
When you trace with a pencil, you want to trace as lightly as possible. If the watercolor is not easily liftable, then it will be next to impossible to erase the pencil lines once you paint over them.
3. Paint right up to pencil sketch
Similar to the tip above, in order to avoid painting over the pencil line, paint right up to the pencil line. And you can still erase with no issues.
4. Use kneaded eraser instead
Whenever possible, use a kneaded eraser. Other, regular erasers will lightly shave off pieces of paper along with the graphite. However, kneaded erasers only pick up the graphite leaving the paper absorption quality intact.
How I painted the floral numbers for the new year
Step 1: Start with larger elements
When filling in a shape like these floral numbers with various elements, I always start with the feature elements. And usually, they are the largest. I painted three large dark green leaves per number. This dark green color was made with Phthalo Green and Burnt Umber.
Step 2: Paint in various green colors
If one of your greens is a cooler green, choose a warmer green for the second set of leaves. As you’re painting the leaves (or other elements), focus on painting half-elements when you get close to the edges.
Step 3: Add in berries for a pop of color
I decided to use go for blueberries, but you can easily swap out the color for red berries. It doesn’t even have to be a berry!
Step 4: Fill in remaining empty spaces with a lighter value
Once you’ve got all of your main elements in place, I like to fill in remaining empty spaces with single leaves in a light value. This way, neither the size nor color will compete with the original elements.
GOAL #1: Better work-life balance
I’ve been working from home for a few years now. And I haven’t always had the best work-life balance. I’d sometimes work 10 hours. On other days, not at all. And now that I have a husband who also occasionally works from home, I need to be more mindful because it’s about both our lives, and not just me. In order to have a better work-life balance, I’m doing my best not to work on weekends, and have a hard stop at 6pm.
GOAL #2: Grow on YouTube
After not being very consistent on YouTube since I first started back in 2017, I somehow hit 1,000 subscribers in November 2022. And since I’ve focused more of my content creating to video, I realized that YouTube should become a main platform for sharing. So that’s why growing on YouTube is a goal for 2023.
I will accomplish this goal by sharing a video at least once a week! Please take a moment to subscribe, like my videos, and comment.
I forgot to share in the video below, but related to this goal (and being consistent) is to do a 100-day project.
GOAL #3: Publish 2 Skillshare Classes
Teaching on Skillshare is what really helped propel my business to the next level. I joined in 2017 and quickly became a top teacher. Teaching really is what I love to do most of all. So I’m going to continue in 2023 and publish two classes. Is there a topic you’d like to see me explore? I think you’ll like the next class I’ll be releasing. I’ll give you a hint.. it’s about my favorite color. 🙂
GOAL #4: Re-explore digital art
Back in the day when I was spreading myself too thin and trying out too many things, I explored digital art. Specifically watercolor and calligraphy using the Procreate app on the iPad Pro.
Since I wasn’t happy with some of the brushes I was using, I decided to create my own! I released several of my own brushes (including watercolor, calligraphy, glitter, etc.). In 2023, I hope to re-explore this realm and perhaps release newer brushes.
GOAL #5: Learn gouache!
This is my last goal for 2023 which is to learn gouache! Okay, this has been a goal of mine for a long time! I think I still get tripped up on the fact that I can’t reactivate gouache as easily as watercolor, so it prevents me from even trying.
But gouache is a great next step from watercolor and I have a whole set from LUKAS ready to go. Well, sometime in 2023 I shall explore it for real!
Thanks so much for painting with me! And reading up about my goals for 2023.
I’d love to see your watercolor floral numbers! You can do something similar to mine and do numbers. Or you can do a monogram!
If you use this tutorial, please tag me on social media @AudreyRaDesign and use the hashtag #PaintWithAudrey.
Enter The Watercolor Garden to help you:
- Master loose florals
- Let go of perfectionism
- Build your artistic confidence
- Learn to relax with watercolors
- And so much more!
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