Day 3 – Veins and Shadows

Negative Painting with Leaves

Technique level: Advanced
Duration: ~30-40 minutes

Objective:
Practice negative painting – painting the space around your subject to define its shape, rather than painting the object directly. This is especially effective for layered leaf forms, where shadows and light play between overlapping shapes.

Materials:

• Cold press watercolor paper
• Round brush (sizes 4-10)
• Pigments: a dark earthy trio like Indigo, Perylene Green, and Burnt Sienna
• Pencil (light sketch only)
• Reference: a group of overlapping leaves (e.g., ferns, eucalyptus, or your own sketch from a garden)

Steps:

1. Sketch Lightly: Draw 3-5 simple overlapping leaf shapes. Keep lines light—just enough to guide.
2. Paint Around the Top Layer: Mix a medium-dark color and carefully paint around the outermost leaf shapes. Don’t touch the leaves themselves; leave them as white paper for now.
3. Layer 2 – Go Deeper: Once dry, sketch or imagine more leaves behind the first ones. Mix a slightly darker tone and paint around both the original leaves and the new ones.
4. Layer 3 (Optional): Repeat with an even darker tone for a third level of depth. Use a smaller brush to refine edges and fill narrow gaps.
5. Refine the Whites: Once all the background is dry, glaze soft shadows inside the white leaves with diluted pigment to create the sense of gentle curvature and form.

Focus:

• Control your edges – keep those leaf shapes clean and confident.
• Watch how darker layers push earlier ones forward.
• Learn to “see in reverse” – you’re painting the empty space, not the object.

Bonus Tip:
Use a scrap paper mask (just cut a leaf shape) to block areas and help guide your hand while painting around narrow or tricky sections.