Painting Demonstration: Step Four

I get letters from people about my work. The thing that pleases me most is that my work touches their feelings. In fact, they don’t talk about the paintings. They end up telling me the story of their life or how their father died.

~ Andrew Wyeth

Last, but not least, the handsome red rose.

I premix my base red using:

Blockx Burnt Sienna Deep.

Blockx Cadmium Red.

Blockx Cadmium Yellow.

Titanium White.

Some of the green I previously mixed.

I mix a shadow color using:

Some of the previously mixed green.

A little white for its opaqueness.

Blockx Cadmium Red.

Blockx Blue.

A little Ivory Black.

Blockx Burnt Sienna Deep.

I put down a light coat of amber so it is just a little sticky.

I start at the base of the flower and work my way upwards.

I start with the shadows, and then I put in the highlights and blend in between.

If you paint from the background to the foreground it is so much easier.

Painting wet paint into wet paint allowed me to easily create the soft edges between the rose and the background. Allowing my edges to blend together kept me from creating a cookie cutter look.

This painting was almost ala prima but with the blogging mixed in I run out of steam. I highly advise doing ala prima paintings as well as paintings from life as they teach a whole different realm than merely copying a photo. I use photos a lot but I love working from life and I’m sure I will do it more as I progress. Plein air painting teaches one to really see what they are composing with paint.

Thank you everyone for spreading the word about these demonstrations and for dropping by Boyd Greene Fine Art for a browse.