Painting Fuchsias and a Hummingbird: My First Adventure with Brush Pens and Water Brushes
Rediscovering Forgotten Art Supplies
Hi, I'm Valerie Englehart, and today I want to share my adventure with some brush pens that had been sitting neglected in my cabinet for far too long. I challenged myself to use only the materials that came with this Chromatek set: the brush pens and water brushes I'd never even tried before.
This was very different from my usual watercolor approach, and honestly, that unfamiliarity made it both challenging and exciting.
The Learning Curve: Getting Reacquainted with Brush Pens
First Impressions on Cold Press Paper
Starting with a hot pink color on my Cold Press Arteza expert paper, I immediately noticed I was getting a very strong dry brush look. The first pen I picked up was apparently very dry and scratchy – clearly, I couldn't remember how these pens were supposed to behave after sitting unused for so long!
Fortunately, the other pens had much smoother ink flow, which gave me hope for the rest of the painting.
Working Without Preliminary Sketches
Because I typically paint watercolor without doing a preliminary pencil sketch, I tried to use that same approach here – going straight in with color and shapes. This meant using my fingers to measure and ensure I made the fuchsias the right size and placed them correctly so I could fit the full hummingbird later without losing parts off the edge.
This approach takes time to get used to, but it creates more spontaneous, lively results.
Building the Fuchsia Flowers: Layering Color and Texture
Creating Depth Through Color Variation
I didn't want just flat pink flowers, so I layered multiple colors:
Pink as the base
Red for warmth
Rosy tones for variation
Purple for depth
Navy blue for contrast
I drew everything in first before adding water, building up the color complexity while the pens were still dry.
The Appeal of Brush Pens for Detail Work
One of the nice things about brush pens is that they let me draw delicate lines – like those little stems or pistils coming out of the fuchsia – without worrying about trying to paint very thin lines with a brush. The brush pen worked perfectly for these precise details.
My First Experience with Water Brushes
Learning Through Trial and Error
I picked up the largest round brush from the water brush set, and since I'd never used them before, I found myself squeezing it on my hand, testing it out, trying to figure out how to determine how wet it is, how to get the water out.
This was very much a learning exercise for me, but I could see their appeal – they'd be great for outdoor sketching when you don't want to carry around a water pail.
Embracing Unpredictable Marks
To get water out, I had to squeeze the belly of the brush, which sometimes brought out just a bit of water, sometimes flooded it. This gave me unpredictable marks, which I actually loved! I like that quality in watercolor – it keeps things loose and spontaneous rather than overly controlled.
Cleaning Technique
I kept a paper towel nearby for cleaning the brush. To clean it, I'd take it to the side, squeeze, and lightly brush the fibers to get excess ink off. Even though I had my regular water cup for painting, I wanted to stick strictly to materials from the Chromatek set for this experiment.
Creating the Hummingbird: Size, Placement, and Motion
Managing Scale and Proportion
Because I wasn't sketching first, I paid close attention to the size and placement of the head in relation to the fuchsia – this would determine my hummingbird's overall size. Since hummingbirds are fairly small, I had to really reign myself in to avoid my tendency to paint everything bigger.
Loose Color Blocking Approach
I wasn't being precious about exact color placement. Instead, I:
Looked at my reference photo from Unsplash
Noticed where things might be warmer or cooler, lighter or darker
Filled in blocks of color with a scribbly nature
Left little white gaps to see how they'd affect ink movement when I added water
Right now it looked like a right mess, but I knew from experience that things would transform once I added water.
The Magic of Water Activation
When I went in with the round water brush, the transformation began. I was careful about placement and dragged pigment up to the fuchsia, letting pigment from the fuchsia bleed back into the beak. Even though my reference photo showed a dark beak, I decided to keep it light and airy so it would merge beautifully with the flower.
That's something I can do as an artist – make creative decisions that serve the overall composition.
Creating Wing Motion: Capturing the Hummingbird's Essence
Avoiding Muddy Color Mixing
As I added water, I wasn't just moving my pen randomly over the place. I tried to merge colors in a way that wouldn't create messy, muddy results. This meant not bringing light yellow-green into purple areas and keeping colors in their relative locations.
Painting Movement and Energy
For the wings, I squeezed lots of water out of my brush and dragged color to form wing shapes. Hummingbirds beat their wings super crazy fast, and I wanted that feeling of motion and movement. When hummingbirds flap, it's a blur – so I wanted to create a blur, but a very pretty, visible one.
In my reference photo, the wings were more gray, but I didn't want that because:
I didn't want to introduce a new color at this point
Adding colors for flight feathers would make them too heavy
I wanted the piece to stay light and airy
So I used just water to pull whatever pigments were already on the paper.
Adding Definition: When and How to Add Details
Bringing Back Lost Information
Once my upper fuchsias dried, I used my darkest color (midnight blue – I try to avoid black unless necessary) to add back some details. Even though I could still tell they were fuchsias, they'd lost too much detail for my taste.
I'm not even a detail painter, but it felt like I needed to restore some definition using just the brush pen – no need to bring out the water brush again.
The Challenge of the Hummingbird's Eye
For the eye, I used black and dotted around it with tiny dark feathers so it wouldn't look like an eye just suddenly smacked onto the hummingbird. I left a gap for the highlight, but when I applied the black, it was too stark.
I tried using the smallest round brush pen to lift some pigment for a glassy look (my usual technique for animal eyes), but I lost the highlight in the process. I decided to leave it and come back later.
Creating Atmospheric Backgrounds
Softening Harsh Edges
Using my largest flat water brush, I squeezed water around the fuchsia and reactivated existing color, moving it around because it looked too cut out, too stark. I like washy backgrounds.
I thought, "Let's make a washy background by pulling out what's already there." Since this was just a fun, playful afternoon study, I didn't feel afraid to experiment or potentially ruin the piece.
Breaking My Own Rules: When Preference Wins
The Gouache Exception
I had committed to using only materials from the Chromatek set, but the loss of shine in the eye was really bothering me. Sometimes you have to break your own rules for the good of the painting – so I added that highlight back with gouache.
This small compromise made all the difference in bringing the hummingbird to life.
What I Learned from This Brush Pen Adventure
Technical Discoveries
Water brushes offer great portability for outdoor work
Brush pens excel at delicate linear details
The unpredictability can be a feature, not a bug
Color layering works differently than traditional watercolor
Creative Insights
Working without sketches keeps things spontaneous
Embracing "messy" intermediate stages leads to better results
Sometimes breaking your own rules serves the art
Motion and energy matter more than perfect accuracy
Material Appreciation
Forgotten supplies can offer fresh perspectives
Constraints (using only one set) can boost creativity
Student-grade materials can produce professional-looking results
The Joy of Experimental Sessions
This painting reminded me why it's important to periodically challenge ourselves with unfamiliar materials and techniques. What started as dusty, neglected brush pens became a delightful afternoon of discovery.
The final piece captured exactly what I was after: the energy and motion of a hummingbird visiting fuchsia flowers, painted with loose, atmospheric quality that feels both spontaneous and intentional.
Sometimes the best art happens when we stop overthinking and start playing with whatever materials are within reach – even if they've been sitting in a cabinet, waiting patiently for their moment to shine.