Brazilian Salvia 'Black and Blue' Painting

Brazilian Salvia 'Black and Blue' (Salvia guaranensis 'Black and Blue').

Last summer I grew this tropical Salvia 'Black and Blue' as a potted plant on my front walk, and found that the humming birds loved it! Every morning during the heat of August and early September, the Ruby-throat humming birds would come to feast on the nectar of the lovely intense blue flowers. And the flower buds are, true to the plant's name, nearly black.

I started working on some drawings of the plant back then, but also took lots of photos of it in my studio as well as outdoors, knowing that I might not be able to complete the painting before the plant died back in the fall.

Graphite drawing - Stage 1

Graphite drawing - Stage 2

I started with a graphite sketch, as usual--one flowering spike at a time, then adding another, trying to keep the overall design of the painting in mind as I went along. I then traced over it to re-work the arrangement of the flower spikes to give a sense of the fullness of the plant in bloom.

Graphite drawing - Stage 3

After studying my drawing, I felt that the composition was too heavily weighted towards the left side; to achieve a better balance, I added one more spike facing right and more leaves.

Graphite drawing - Stage 4

I shaded my drawing to study the contours and shadows, but my composition still lacked a focal point. Eventually it occurred to me, why not add a humming bird? I don't usually include pollinators in my botanical paintings, unless this is the stated theme, but I wanted to try my hand at painting a bird.

I've never caught a humming bird in any of my photos despite the frequency of their visits--they move so fast and are notoriously elusive. But there were plenty of hummer photos available on-line and in my gardening catalogs to be able to find some suitable images for my painting.

Watercolor - Stage 1

After tracing my drawing onto watercolor paper (Fabriano Artistico hot-pressed 140 LB) I laid down the light washes of color you see on the right side of the painting. My palette of colors was fairly limited: Vanadium Yellow, Indranthrene Blue, Cerulean Blue Hue, Brilliant Blue Violet, and a touch of Quinacridone Coral. Then I started building up the color on the flowers and buds, and to show the intricate veins and contours of the leaves.

Watercolor - Stage 2

At this stage I began to paint the humming bird, using two reference photos. I completed all the work on the flowers and leaves before getting back to finishing the humming bird.

Watercolor - Stage 3

After I had darkened the feathers on the humming bird I remembered that I still had some of Daniel Smith's wonderful Interference Watercolors--green and red were the colors needed. A tiny bit of each dry-brushed on the feathers gave it just the right amount of iridescence to look convincing! Unfortunately, the iridescent effect can't been seen except when looking at the painting from different angles--it doesn't show up in the final photo.

Brazilian Salvia 'Black and Blue' - Final watercolor painting

The finished painting is shown above.