The poppies had been drawn onto the paper and then masked out.
Once the masking fluid was dry the soft background was created by wetting the paper and then pouring in a medium mixture of raw sienna and rolling it around on the paper to cover the area behind the masked out poppies and leaving some areas of white showing.
While the paper was gradually drying a green of raw sienna and Antwerp blue was poured into the middle of the cluster of poppies. Using a flat brush it was moved outwards from the poppies to give the impression of foliage.
As the paper was drying French ultramarine blue was added to darken the green mix and a few more leaves were painted into the lighter green with a little more detail to give some definition to the poppy leaves. The background is now completed and the painting was set aside to dry completely before removing the masking fluid.
Each petal is painted in stages. The base colour is a wash of alizarin crimson and the areas where the bright white highlight will be is left completely without paint, allowing the paper to be my white.
A little more alizarin crimson is added to the wash to darken the colour slightly and the next layer of colour is applied leaving the palest areas with just the base wash of colour. To the third layer of paint a small amount of cadmium red is added to the alizarin crimson which seems to give a richer more vibrant colour. More cadmium red is added to the colour mix and another layer of colour is applied.
A little bit of the green mix is glazed over the red and is painted in the areas where the darkest colour will be located and to show some of the reflected greens from the background colour. Some of the highlights are painted in with cadmium yellow to give a soft golden glow.
A very dark purple mixture of French ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson and burnt sienna is used for the dark center of the poppy.
The stems and buds are painted using various greens made from mixtures of Antwerp blue, raw sienna and French ultramarine blue.
The poppies are in various stages of completion as layers of wash are gradually built up on each petal and stalk.
As I finish more of the flowers I will post this to the blog.
Thank you for taking the time to look at my artwork and I hope you will return often.
