Purple Poppy

By now you must all know that I have a thing for Poppies.  I think because they are simple flower, but look fantastic.

I started with a light wash of a nice reddish purple color.  Then, kept adding layer upon layer of paint.  Each one just a bit darker than the last.

Throw on a nice background that helps to make the flowers stand out and you've got a nice little painting.

Hope you enjoy


For anyone that wants to see a video of my painting this, there is a video below.

Poppies

This is a fun painting I did for the coming of spring.  It's Poppies!!   The state flower of California.  I've got these growing wild everywhere around my house.  They add a beautiful splash of color.  

Many poppies have a dark center.  This variety instead has a bright vibrant yellow center.  I thought they would make the perfect subject to paint.

Oh and as for the background.... Well, I wanted to play a little and let these have some fun.  So a half wash and some splatter were just what the doctor ordered.

I painted this picture with a very limited color palette, and was delighted to see that even with that you can paint a beautiful paintings.  I really hope you enjoy it.

Oh, and if you are curios about a video of this painting, I've got just the thing for you.  I did make one and posted not long ago.  (yes, I've been delinquent about posting to this blog).  Anyway, you can find the video below.

Poppypalooza

I went home last night with the intent on painting some hydrangeas, and guess what happened... Poppies.  This time it was a little different painting from little pans (All I have at home is a small travel set of paints).  I wasn't sure if I would be able to make up enough wash to really work this style of painting.  Luckily, I found out I could.

Also, I should say, I wanted to paint yellow/orange poppies, but somewhere between palette and paper, my mind forgot, and I got these red ones.

I can't express how fun it is to paint these.  Most of my whole artistic (if you can call it that) career (part time dabbling with paint) I've been painting tight pictures, and it always bothered me that they didn't look like the pictures I was painting from, and they were rather lifeless.  Additionally, if I were to paint outside a line, or paint something wrong (whatever that is) it would make me nuts.  I could never figure how to let the water and paint do their own dance on the paper.  

Now with this style, I feel much freer to let the paint be the paint, the water be the medium to make the paint dance, and the paper to record it.  All I have to do it keep refilling the brush and move it to the paper every now and again.  I know these pictures aren't accurate representations of poppies (or whatever I'm painting).  But what I think I get is the expression of the poppy (or whatever I'm painting), or the feeling of, and that is what is important.

Anyway, I'm gonna keep along these lines for a while.  Don't expect me to be painting inside the lines.  I had fun painting this, hope you had fun looking and reading. Thank you and see you next post.

12 Poppies

I got a bit ambitious today and decided to do quite a few poppies. Why 12?  I have no idea.  I just kept getting paper out and painting.

The first two I drew so that I would know where the flowers would be.  Don't ask me which of the 4 paintings they are.  The next two I did freehand.  Again, I couldn't pick them out without looking closely at the paintings.

These are of course orange poppies.  I don't have orange in my palette, so I mixed Cad Yellow Medium with Scarlet Lake.  It really make a vibrant orange.

I don't know how far I'm gonna go with this technique, or with painting flowers, but for now, I'm having fun with it.

Hope you all enjoy.

Even More Poppies

Once more into the breach with theses poppies.  Maybe its the fact that they grow so well here in California and that I seem them every day from mid spring through fall, but I can't stop painting them.    Actually, I think I might be coming to the end of my time with these.

I am loving this style of painting.  Using this I get to do what I think painting should be.  I get to give the viewer a feeling of, or the essence of, the flower, without having to paint a flower exactly as it is.  You get the idea of exactly poppies are, but I am free to play and have fun with the paint, free of bounds and borders.

I am gonna try to move this technique to other subjects.

Mostly I think I like this technique because I get to play with the paint and let it flow around the paper.  Soooo fun.

Hope you enjoy these.  Thanks for the view.

Poppy Fields

Im not sure why I feel the need to paint flowers right now.  Perhaps it's the oncoming spring.  Perhaps its the vibrant colors.  Or, perhaps it's because I can paint simple flowers without having to struggle to draw something to paint.  (Honest Admission:  I am not good at drawing, and from time to time will trace my subjects onto paper and then paint them.   I am working on trying to draw better, but it is taking a while to get to a point I feel my drawing is acceptable.)    But for whatever reason, I thought I would try my hand at painting some poppies again.  I've tried poppies before, and though they are simple, mine never seemed to work out well.  But this time, I have forsaken trying to paint a literal interpretation of poppies, and gone for a much wilder interpretation.    The whole point of this exercise was to put paint to paper and make an image that gives the impression of a poppy without throwing a poppy in your face.

I definitely think I accomplished that.  While I think I got a few of the colors too dark in places, and perhaps should have had a  little cleaner rinse water to allow the paint to fade a bit more, I think I did a decent job.

Well, if nothing else, I'll have a nice spot of color on my walls.  Hope you enjoy viewing these as much as I enjoyed painting them. Thank you.