Experimental flowers

I have been playing around a bit with experimental watercolor techniques lately - these flowers for example. I have started out by painting some random shapes on a piece of scrap paper and then pressing it onto watercolor paper - kind of like a print. This is a way of starting that I really like, since it gives some randomness and is a great way to get over the fear of the white paper! I have then added some color in various layers to "help out" the shapes that I like. I also let watery paint run down some of the paintings for impressions of stems, and added dark dots in the middle of the shapes to increase the impression of flowers. I don´t know if they turned out as masterpieces, but it was fun to play around with anyway! 

More trees...

Watercolor on some unknown piece of paper (the back of an old painting) Ca 15x20 cm

I decided to try the technique that I used in my sketchbook for the winter trees on a little watercolor. I have basically used a bit of plastic to scrape color onto the paper for the birch stems. I experimented with doing it on dry paper and wet for different effects. I also used it for a demonstration and it turned out to be a fun thing to play with. I wrote an instruction for it on my Swedish website, but you can always look at the pictures ;) 

Orchids

Ink and watercolor in Moleskin watercolor notebook.

I really love orchids, but I find it hard to paint them for some reason. I always end up with extremely boring paintings. This was a kind of experiment as a way of thinking new in different styles and compositions. The left one is a blind contour drawing, just to get going. In the middle, a classic sketchbook style attempt and to the right a little more experimental style with ink and watercolor on wet paper. Now all that remains is to turn the ideas into watercolors somehow without loosing the expression...