I recently painted this picture for my mother-in-law's birthday. I kept a photographic record of each main step so that I could show you how I achieved the result, and so you could try the same thing yourself!
First of all, I went through my computer folders to review photos of flowers and gardens that I had taken. I settled on the following picture because of its interesting composition and colour. I love the bright red flowers set against the white flowers and green background. Some violets are hidden near the bottom, and there are some yellow flowers that provide a nice contrast.
I analysed the picture - where is the focal point? I decided it was probably the flower shown below, due to its position and size.
I printed out the photo, then traced the main areas using tracing paper to get familiar with the layout. Sorry, I didn't get a photo of this step.
My next step was to put a grid on it. The printed photo is 13 x 18cm, and my canvas is 9 x 12", so I did a little calculation (18 divided by 12) to get the correct square unit size (1.5cm) and drew the grid on the tracing using a ruler.
This step also showed me that the focal point was set in one of the thirds of the painting, which is ideal as it makes a more interesting composition than a focal point that's set directly in the middle.
Next, I drew the grid on the canvas (9 by 12 square inches) and copied the drawing by looking at the tracing. This is really quite an easy and enjoyable step, and you can get amazing results -- simply because you are drawing what you really see, rather than what you think you see. Sometimes, the tendency is to draw the more important things larger than they really are.
(Sorry, but the drawing is quite faint. I tried to sharpen it a bit, though.)
Once that was finished, I rubbed out the gridlines as best I could, being careful not to press too hard (which could leave a dent in the canvas).
On the computer, I messed around with the picture's settings, increasing the contrast and so on, to help me to see the broad areas of the painting. This eliminates the details and increases the sense of form, or shapes of the painting.
I was now ready to start painting! Squeezing out some yellow ochre, I mixed it with a decent amount of water to create a wash, and spread it all over the canvas, including the sides. This creates an undertone which a) helps to harmonise the colours of the painting, and b) eliminates the white to get the painting started.
Don't forget to undercoat the edges:
Then I played some
Burger Cat while it dried :-)
When it was dry, I squeezed out some white paint, and using both the enhanced image on my computer screen and my tracing as reference, I blocked out the white/light areas of the painting.
Some more time, some more Burger Cat, then I used a warm red paint to block out the red areas of the painting. I made sure to go slightly larger than the actual defined areas, because I intended to cut these back later with the background colouring.
Next was a mix of magenta, cobalt blue and white for the violets.
It was then time to start blocking in the background. I used pthalo blue (or cool blue) and squinted my eyes to see the darkest areas in their basic shapes.
I also painted roughly around the edge where there was shadow.
Then I used a wash of pthalo blue to fill in the main green areas, again going aroung the edge when necessary. I also added another layer of thicker red paint to the red flowers.
Then I used light green paint to block in the green, and warm yellow paint to indicate the centres of the white flowers.
I added some more pthalo blue to add more detail to the red flowers.
I continued adding detail and sharpening up some areas.
And here again is the final result:
I hope you enjoyed that tutorial!
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