Wisteria - Art Journal — Lucy Clayton

Every May we get to experience the beauty and perfume of the wisteria that grows in our back garden. On warm quiet days I like to sit underneath and listen to the sounds of the bees as they collect the pollen. I’ve often thought about drawing it, however, have never got round to trying as there is always something going on and then it’s too late as the flowers have faded.

Initially, it was difficult to make sense of the cascading flowers so I practised with continuous line drawings to try to understand the jumble of shapes and forms. It felt better drawing in pencil as the softness of the marks seemed to compliment the delicate tones rather than the crisp black pen.

Moving on to a more detailed study I set up a still life of a wisteria raceme and began a rough construction drawing. I found it challenging to draw the positions of each flower correctly before it started to wilt and so took some photographs to work from. Once I had a rough outline I transferred this to a sheet of Bristol board and added details along with the tonal information needed for the watercolour.

I have sat many times and looked at wisteria but taking the time to draw it I started to understand its patterns and twisting shapes. I love the tumbling froth of the flowers and the anticipation of waiting for those pixie boot buds to slowly open and work their way down the stem.

Once the detailed drawing was completed I traced the outline of the main shapes before printing onto a stretched piece of watercolour paper, using the blotted line technique.

Masking off the surounding paper before painting

Blotted line print with first watercolour washes

The irregularities of this simple printing method worked well in describing the softness and fragmented feeling of the flowers. Next I lightly blocked in some shapes and areas for painting before applying the first pale watercolour washes.

Wisteria - watercolour painting in progress

Detail of watercolour painting in progress

Detail of Wisteria watercolour painting in progress

The last few paintings I’ve worked on have been with very strong dark colours so it took a bit of getting used to applying pale tones. It was interesting to paint with complimentary colours and I especially liked the way the yellow glowed against the pale bluey lilac of the flower.

The young leaves remind me of briney olives and I added some cadmium red to a green mix of French ultra marine and cadmium yellow pale.

One of the influences behind this painting was the work of Katsushika Hokusai. Years ago I was given a book from the Hokusai Museum in Japan as a gift. His simplicity of line, shape and composition is incredibly beautiful and dynamic. The image of the wagtail and wisteria on the right hand page captures the way the individual buds spiral around the raceme. They do appear to be upside down and perhaps rather than trying to be botanically correct he used his artistic licence.

I’m glad I finally did get round to painting the wisteria and I look forward to next spring when it’s beautiful scent will once again fill the garden.

Giclee prints of Wisteria are available to purchase here