WAVES OF EXPRESSION

Hello everyone! I’m back again with another post for The Smiling Hippo. Before the summer ends, I wanted to paint one last summer inspired painting as an homage to summer. So for today’s painting I will be drawing an insect that’s usually spotted during summer, a dragonfly! 

Dragonflies are colorful insects that are usually found near small streams and ponds during the summer. There are many species of dragonflies and many of them have beautiful iridescent and metallic colored bodies. In other words, they’re the perfect subject for using Smiling Hippo paints! 

If you want to see how you can also paint a dragonfly, just follow along!

I started off by drawing the outline of a dragonfly. You can look up dragonfly outlines online to get an idea of how you want your dragonfly to look. 

I then gathered all my Smiling Hippo watercolor paints so that I could have plenty of colors to pick from when painting my dragonfly. Remember, dragonflies have iridescent colors on their wings and bodies which means that when the sun hits their wings, different colors can be seen. 

Once I had my outline done and my supplies gathered, I started the fun part, painting! 

When painting a dragonfly I recommend using both glitter and metallic watercolors. Together they create a beautiful, glimmering dragonfly. For the wings, try using a wash of color for a base and then adding colors to it once the base is dry. For a see through effect, add more water to your brush when painting the wings. That way the paint will be more diluted and give off a transparent look. 

And once you have your dragonfly ready don’t forget the background! You can add a color backdrop like I did or you can draw a landscape. Perhaps a green field or a pond. The possibilities are endless. 

And there you have it, a painting of a dragonfly to commemorate summer. I hope you’ve had a good summer thus far. Until next time! 

*added note from editor: The Smiling Hippo is my old brand name has since changed to Waves Of Expression!