PAINTING IN THE GARDEN

James Gurney shares his experience painting botanical subjects outdoors in water media

- James Gurney

PAINTING WITH FRIENDS

Building up a practice of regular sketching excursions with friends is a great way to get motivated. There are Urban Sketchers groups and plein air meetups in almost every city, and you can paint together in a private garden if you're nervous about people watching you.

DEVELOP A COLOR-MIXING WORKFLOW

Some kinds of flowers and foliage are composed of small bits of color to make an impressionistic effect of variegated hues. Capturing that effect with opaque paint requires a palette that's set up for a lot of free mixing. With opaque pigments, I mix a bunch of batches of varied color and try to keep several different brushes in play at once.

BRING HIGH-CHROMA COLORS

I should follow my own advice, but sometimes I forget how intense colors can be. At the New York Botanical Garden's Plein Air Invitational, I wanted to do a close-up study of a tree peony, but I didn't have a strong enough magenta pigment. Luckily my wife came to my rescue with a tube of opera rose. In the deep recesses between petals, the chroma is heightened by transmitted light.

LEAVES ARE LIGHTER THAN SURROUNDINGS