---
title: "Watercolour Flower Studies"
url: https://jujuvail.com/watercolourflowerstudies/
description: "Quick watercolour studies of market flowers, their tangled stems and shifting colour."
published: 2026-05-05
updated: 2026-05-05
---

# Watercolour Flower Studies

Published 2026-05-05

I had been getting the studio organised and ready for the year, then making quick watercolour studies from whatever flowers came home from Columbia Road Flower Market on Sunday. I love the tangle of them.

The stems are as important as the blooms: movement holds the page together.

A quick study keeps the first energy of the arrangement.

## Why quick studies matter

A study is not a lesser painting. It gives colour and gesture room to arrive before the subject becomes over-described. Begin with the direction of the stems, the largest gaps and the darkest meeting points. Let individual petals wait.

At the 20/21 British Art Fair I saw Ann Oram's paintings at the Duncan R Miller stand. Up close, they were rich with different textures and materials. That permission to mix marks - transparent colour, opaque body colour, drawn line - stays useful at the worktable.

> Paint the tangle first. The flowers can emerge from it.

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