Sweet Potato Vine – Mindy Lighthipe ; botanical watercolor ©2011

Today I decided to do a quick little leaf. It is a sweet potato vine leaf. This creeping vine is a great addition in my garden as it spreads quickly and acts as a ground cover. This is important because like all gardeners…. I hate to spend time weeding.

My approach to watercolor is often very bold and I wanted to see if I could be more delicate. I painted this leaf on Fabriano Hot Press 140lb. watercolor paper. This is relatively new for me. I usually work on 300lb and use tons of water and pigment. Today I used this paper in an attempt to use less water and less pigment. It was little tough for me because the paper buckled a bit when I added the water. I don't like to tape down my paper. I am one of those artists that likes to get into right away. Too much preparation and I become impatient and start skipping steps.

I used a paint called Terre Verte from Daniel Smith and it produced a softer green than the sap green I used a few days ago. I also added a a glaze over the leaf with a pale yellow. This gave it a small color shift to add more variation. All in all I was happy with this painting but it was more work……. I had to do less! Sometimes doing less is harder for me because I have to back off. I always want to go for the gusto and this painting helped me to pull back the reins!

This painting is available in my Etsy Shop.