NEGATIVE PAINTING – HEXAGONS

…with a couple of stray octagons which crept in unawares!

A new negative watercolour

After a disastrous false start which really didn’t work, I turned the paper over and started again. This negative painting is of simple hexagon shapes, with the darker layers having smaller shapes to give the illusion of depth and distance.

The initial drawing

I wondered whether I should get these hexagons all regular and mathematically correct, but then decided, dang it, draw them by hand! Let’s have a bit of randomness here. I think I prefer it that way.

First and second washes

As always, I started with a very pale wash all over, and then went over it again with a slightly darker shade, painting around the largest foreground hexagons.

Third wash

Darker again, and starting to get a bit of depth. I varied the colour a little, making it more blue in the centre, and more green towards the sides.

Fourth and final wash

On this layer I added a lot more very tiny hexagons to go off into the distance. Lots of depth now.

Shading, detail and embellishment

This final stage is always the most fun, as it tidies up the painting and gives it its finished look.

To make the hexagons stand out more, I added shadows behind them. I also went round every hexagon with a fine black marker pen to sharpen up the shapes a bit and give them more definition. To give them a more three-dimensional look, I stippled on some darker colours away from the light source – I really like this texture.

It needed a bit of complimentary pazazz so I added some tiny orange hexagons. I also made some gold ones and outlined others, using my fine metallic gold Posca pen.

The final step was to add the floating gold outline hexagons. It was only after I’d drawn the two large ones that I realised that they were octagons! I couldn’t change it. I never was any good at maths. I think these invaders look OK, though, and add something to the finished picture!