Vintage Watercolor Florals
Jul 19, 2023
I'll admit, I am a messy artist. Just take a look at my painting palette. You know how the watercolor experts warn, 'don't make mud!' when mixing colors? Well, sometimes my palette gets a bit muddy. 
When I'm working on developing a vintage color palette for these watercolor hydrangeas, I always mix at least two or three colors together. And sometimes I use white gouache to soften it even more. I was going for a vintage cottage feel with this hydrangea painting, so the colors needed to be muted, earthy, and romantic.
SO here's what I did for these vintage watercolor florals
- for the dusty rose colored hydrangea flowers I used a mix of winsor red (very bright!) toned down a bit with white gouache, a touch of cobalt blue and a teeny amount of burnt sienna. I varied how much white gouache I mixed in so that it would be lighter or darker.
- for the muted blueish gray flowers I used the SAME colors, just in different ratios. I used cobalt blue again mixed with some white gouache, and teeny amount of the same red to warm it up, and occasionally some burnt sienna mixed with cobalt to darken up the centers of the flowers. Notice a trend here? By using a limited color palette (the same colors but mixed in different ratios, I was able to avoid the dreaded 'mud' effect and the paintings coordinate).
- for the greens, I used my tried and true, perylene green mixed with sap green and a bit of white gouache to mute it a bit.
Let me know what you think! Try out this color palette and share your work with me on instagram, I'd love to see what you create!
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