Pyrrhidium Sanguineum with Hibiscus, watercolour on Saunders Waterford High White Not, 140lb (300gsm), (19x28cm)
Paul Riley shows how the symbiosis between flowers and the insects that visit them can make marvellous watercolour paintings, as he draws inspiration from Oriental artists.
For the painting above I placed this beautiful beetle in the foreground to enable me to use the perspective to increase its scale. I adored its amazingly long antennae, which reflected the spiny nature of the stalks that the beetle is perched on. I love the clash of the two reds in the composition – the blue-biased one in the hibiscus and the yellow-biased red in the bug.
Colour and pattern
Green Lacewing with Hibiscus, watercolour, (19x28cm)
The delicate transparency of the lacewing in the painting above was a real challenge. I used dilute stains of phthalo green and tiny touches of cobalt green, which preciptates slightly. The insect's transparency practically camouflages it against the hibiscus.
Flowers and insects in close juxtaposition make a marvellous subject for painting.
The first reason for me to paint them is for their colours and their patterns, attributes they both share. Colours and patterns on flowers attract insects, whereas colours and patterns on insects can either attract others of the same species or repel and alarm predators.
Butterflies make for dramatic inclusions in a flower painting. Interestingly butterflies and moths come from the family Lepidoptera, meaning scaly wings. These scales have wonderful reflective properties that produce the most amazing iridescent colours.
Flowers have their colours as a result of anthocyanines in their petals. The petals reflect their colours, hence their intensity. These colours do the job of attracting pollinators. Simultaneously they attract us – I believe this is a genetic development to ensure we cultivate those plants adding to their survival!
Oriental influences
One of my favourite Chinese painters, Chi pi Chi, included many types of insects in his paintings of flowers.
He was particularly adept at depicting the delicate structure of wings. His work showed an interesting balance between the abstraction of the flowers and an almost hyperrealist representation of the insects.
Another Chinese painter worth looking at is Zhao Shao-ang, whose work in colour is quite sumptuous.
Kitagawa Utamaro produced the Insect Book with brilliant compositions. Those three painters have been a source of inspiration to me.
Western influences
In the West, mediaeval manuscript illustrators would incorporate flowers and insects in the margins of their books.
The Dutch were very fond of cornucopia in flower painting that would support numerous insects scuttling about.
Look up Rachel Ruysch, Jan van Kessel the Elder and Jakob van Walscapelle, who were all painting around the 17th and 18th centuries.
The one I find most fascinating is Maria Sibylla Merian, an engraver/artist entomologist whose wonderfully intense work transcends the merely scientific.
You can read about Maria Sibylla Merian on the British Museum website by
The importance of scale
When planning any image for a painting I am mindful of scale.
To depict small insects convincingly, and even flowers for that matter, they need to be large. I maintain that the flowers need to be at least fist-sized and the insects at least a quarter of that. If you place the insect in the foreground, the perspective will enable you to paint the bug even larger.
Materials and techniques for painting insects in watercolour
My tools and materials
On the left: sketchbook with detailed insect studies, folded paper dipped in paint to paint insect body; wings painted with an Isabey traceur and lines scratched using a scalpel. Centre: a selection of brushes including round sables, one-strokes a wolf-hair oriental brush and goat-hair hake; a sponge; paints by Shin Han, Schmincke, and Winsor & Newton. Right: palette, painting of a bumblebee on blossom.
Brushes
The amount of detail required to represent the insect convincingly requires good-quality sable brushes. I use Nos. 2 and 3 kolinsky rounds, with a 10mm one-stroke sable.
The one-stroke is especially useful for those exoskeletal details peculiar to insects’ bodies.
ORDER YOUR ONE-STROKE SABLE HERE
Scalpel
I also use a pointed scalpel blade specifically for reproducing the delicate structure of wings by scratching out into a pale grey wash whilst the paint is wet – this produces extremely fine, dark lines. When all the paint is dry I can then add further detail with touches of grey plus small dabs of white gouache. If you want white lines, wait until the grey paint is dry and then scratch out with the scalpel to the white paper.
Sponge
To indicate an insect in flight I like to blur edges softly with the use of a damp natural sponge. This is best done when the paint is dry. To contrast the detail nature of the insects, I paint the flowers using large brushes, specifically a hake type, approximately 3 to 5cm in width. The one-stroke is also useful.
Paints
The quality of colours used is important, both for the insects and the flowers. I use tube paints, principally those by Shin Han, Schmincke and Winsor & Newton.
Paper
All of Paul's paintings shown here are painted on Saunders Waterford High White NOT paper.
Techniques
Details such as anthers, stamens and leaf veins, which echo insect details, are done using small sable rounds. All strokes should have tension, by which I mean they should be deft, spontaneous and crisp. To do this frankly takes practice and is well worth the effort.
Another technique I use for painting insect bodies, especially dragonflies, is to use a small piece of folded watercolour paper dipped into the appropriate colour, then dabbed onto the painting.
Reference material
To put together an image I need two things: insects and flowers.
I can collect insects as dead bodies or from photographic images taken in the wild; some sources are from internet searches and books. I then practice numerous drawings, imagining them in various positions to suit the image.
Flowers can be arranged in the studio or worked from in the garden. Note which insects the flowers attract. Observation is a great source of inspiration. If you haven’t tried this subject before, I highly recommend it.
Paul's top tips before you begin:
- Practise drawing insects – use either an 03 or 05 mechanical-type pencil by Pentel or similar.
- Draw large both flowers and bugs.
- Practise large-brush painting of flowers using a hake
- Read about the symbiotic relationship of the two species to develop an understanding of your subject.
- Use good-quality tube paints and keep them clean.
- Brushes that point well are essential; keep them clean.
- Imply movement if you can by judicious use of a sponge.
Demonstration: Red-eyed Damsel Fly with Rose
Red-eyed Damsel Fly with Rose, watercolour, (19x28cm)
Stage one
My usual method is to start with the flowers, knowing where the instincts will go but not drawing them in. The reason being that the insect is very detailed and I don’t want to start too tight, otherwise the whole image will follow suit. I therefore bashed in the flowers in a bold and loose way, making them as large as possible in the image. It’s all a question of relative scale – I wanted as much contrast as possible.
Stage two
I painted the dragonfly blue to attract the eye and contrast with the red of the flowers. Crisp detailing and delicacy in the brushwork was essential to create the insect’s character. The intricacies of the insect are counterbalanced by the detail of the centre of the flower.
It doesn’t take long to produce an image of this kind, hence only two stages!
Demonstration: Holly Blue Butterfly with Rosa Rugosa
Holly Blue Butterfly with Rosa Rugosa, watercolour, (19x28cm)
Stage one
The flowers were indicated in a very abstract manner with a combination of hard and soft edges. I used my fingernail to scratch some lines to give the impression of the texture of folded petals.
The very dark green, which shows up the delicacy of the pink petals, is Schmincke shadow green.
I introduced a stalk to the bottom of the image for the purpose of perching the butterfly there.
Stage two
I decided to place the butterfly upside-down, facing towards the two flowers, which to my mind creates in a little more interest.
The wings were painted with a combination of artist-quality Winsor & Newton cerulean blue, cobalt blue and some touches of manganese blue; these three colours precipitate, and so created a flaky feathery look to the wings.
Stage three
For the final few touches I have added extra detail to the wings, which were phthalo blue dots together with some dilute striations. Similarly I added extra detail to the centres of the two flowers consisting of orange and burnt sienna anthers and stamens. Less is more!
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About Paul Riley
Paul Riley teaches in watercolour from his home and studios. Details can be found at www.coombefarmstudios.com.
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