Flower Study #29-Highlands Sunflowers

I did this painting from a photo- but it was of an actual arrangement I made for my demonstration in the painting workshop I led in Highlands NC last week.

Flower Study #29
Highlands Sunflowers
8 x 10
Oil Painting on Panel
by Pat Fiorello


Below is a photo of the arrangement as well as a couple of earlier stages in the process.which led to the finished painting above.

Here was the initial block in:

Then added in a background base before  the next stage of adding form to the flowers. I eventually went lighter and more neutral with the background, but started with a warm base underneath.

Painting a Floral Still Life

Here's the still life set up I worked on yesterday.

 I find yellow flowers to be the most challenging since it's hard to get the darks dark enough when working in the yellow family. 

Using the approach our instructor Hedi Moran is sharing with us (which is quite different from the other methods I've been exposed to before), I blocked in the overall shape of the bouquet starting with the transparent paints.

Next we add in the background, again in with transparent paint only. At this point everything starts to merge together.  Hedi says it should look like we are looking at the set up with glasses with  Vaseline on them- everything should be soft & fuzzy. From this transparent underpainting, we next begin to add more opaque paints, adding thicker paints, and pulling the painting out.

Here's where I got to by the end of the day.

More fun tomorrow...