Thursday 20 June 2013

Opium Poppies

There have been some glorious red, orange and apricot coloured poppies in a couple of clumps not far from the conservatory windows. It was too cold to set up all my painting gear outside but I took my pad outside and drew in the shapes of a small group. The wind and rain had been at them relentlessly so they were by no means pristine but could be described as 'interesting'


I am sorry that the photo is poor, but I was well into wetting the background before I remembered the camera, so there is a mass of glare from the wet paper.

When I had completed the drawing, I wet the entire background being as careful as possible not to get water on the flowers. I then dropped pigments into the wet allowing it to bleed into each other. I then covered the whole sheet with crumpled clingfilm and left it to dry completely. It is very tempting to remove or even just lift the clingfilm for a peek at what it looks like, but I find I get  crisper lines if I resist.

When I thought it was completely dry I removed the film.


At this stage, I was a bit disappointed, as I had wanted a much stronger background, but I kept going as you never know what might come of a shaky start.

I went back down to the conservatory from where I could see the poppies and proceeded to paint them fairly loosely onto the coloured background. I added leaves and stems using shapes which had been created by the cling film.


 Despite my early reservations, I am quite pleased with the result. I placed it on the floor and put a temporary mount over the sheet ( Don't ask me why I put it on the floor, but for some reason I always do! ) I thought it might be worthy of a frame. However, by accident, I moved the mount and it cropped off the top LH corner and I was immediately struck by the way it changed the image.

Lots of thought and I am still nowhere nearer making a decision so I am posting the alternate version and maybe you would like to share your thoughts on the two versions to help me decide!!


Usual Fabriano paper and my usual paint selection. I am going to give the rough paper a bit of a rest for a while. I have been printing some of my images as greetings cards, and ones that have been painted on the rough surface often produce disappointing results as the bumps and hollows in the surface tend to be exaggerated and they acquire shadows which are unsightly. I am hoping that the Not surface will eliminate this and I will keep the Rough paper for the more experimental work.

18 comments:

  1. What a lovely flower painting and the use of cling film for the background is very successful. I like the one that is slightly cut off as I think it takes you into the painting, if you know what I mean?

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    1. Thank you for the lovely comment and for your thoughts on the composition. I know exactly what you mean. It also seems a bit more modern as well.

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    1. Thank you for taking the time to comment, Carol. I am delighted that you enjoy looking at my blog.

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  3. That is a stunning painting. I like the original cropping. It gives more drama to the blues I think. But either way it is lovely. Thank you for sharing.

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    1. Thanks for the comments rose. You are right about the blues. Another thing to think about. As for the sharing, everyone is welcome to any ideas I have. Glad you enjoy looking.

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  4. Cannot decide which version is best as it is a lovely painting either way. Think the word modern describes the cropped version well

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    1. Thanks for replying, Lorraine. I try to keep pace with different approaches to the subjects, and know that it is easy to get into a rut, so am glad that you feel the second version has a modern feel to it.

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  5. I think I prefer the cropped version. Very cool background colours reflect the cool weather we are having lately! Lovely painting.

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  6. Thanks, Jan. I think yopu are right. It has been temporarily mounted like that in the studio for a few days now, and I think that is what I will go for!

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  7. Yes, I'd agree to go for cropped

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  8. Thanks, Larry. I think that is the way I am going to go. It seems the consensus.

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  9. Hi Yvonne,If you got a moment might you be able to tell me the colours you used on the poppies,if you can remember ? I am interested because I am struggling for transparency on mine and yours seem so great.Thank you in advance

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    1. Hope the e mail I sent was helpful, but transparency is often more about how you apply the paint than the pigment.
      Just try not to keep mixing more than 2 pigments together and if possible blend them on the paper and not in the palette.

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  10. Thanks Yvonne.No,unfortunately I didn't get the mail but no worries as I don't want to be putting you to too much trouble.

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  11. Hi Larry. Sorry about that. I replied through my usual e mail server and not on the blog spot. Its no trouble. The point of having the blog is to share information. Briefly, my palette contains the following pigments which I use for flowers such as poppies....Daniel Smith's Pyroll Red,Quinachridone Coral and Indian Yellow; Graham's Azo Orange and Schminke's (?) glorious Transluscent Orange. I use these in various combinations, mixing as much as possible on the paper and not in the palette, and trying to not use mixes of more than two pigments as this tends to muddy the colours. The transluscence is often more abpout how the colours are applied and less about the pigments. I hope that is helpful.

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  12. Very helpful ! Thank you very much for your help Yvonne and best wishes.Larry

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