Turn Your Favourite Bloom Into A Flower Painting
Most of us have a favourite flower. We plant them in ourgardens, we buy them at the florist, we are given them asbouquets to celebrate a a birthday, anniversary or to wish us aspeedy recovery. Unfortunately, most blooms have a short life. Iadore flowers and as an artist, I have learned to preservesomething of their essence in a flower painting forever. If youhave ever wished you could do this with a favourite bloom, thenread on.
Flower painting has a wonderful history. Botanical art has beenused to document numerous species of flowers and plants. Thereis something very satisfying and magical about painting a flowerand preserving just what it was like forever. Of course, flowerphotographs can do the same but when you paint you have theadded pleasure of carefully examining the curves and colours ofeach petal, stamen, stem and leaf. You have to observe the waythe light catches the flower and use this information to give ita 3D presence on your paper. By painting flowers, you get toknow them intimately.
I would advise anyone wanting to start painting to begin withtheir favourite flower, no matter how complex it might seem. Bychoosing your favourite, you will be motivated to try again torender it well. Your feelings have a better chance of beingtransferred into your flower painting too. When a flowerpainting makes you gasp, it is because it initially did the samefor the artist and they have found a way of sharing that withyou. It doesnt matter if your attempts arent perfect. Eachtime you try you will become more familiar with its shape. Itwill seem easier to paint and you will notice
more about thenuances of colour and the way light can affect it.
Of course, there are some useful techniques which might help youlearn flower painting. Many excellent art books have beenwritten about this topic and your bookstore will certainly haveseveral. But be wary of simply copying another artiststechniques. You may be surprised to find that you are lesssatisfied with the results than you are with simply observingyour favourite flower and perfecting your vision of it with eachattempt.
Try drawing with different materials, have fun and keep all yourattempts. You will be encouraged to see how your vision andskill improves simply by practise. I use pastels, both the softpowdery ones and the deliciously oily variety. I love thembecause of their beautiful range of colours, from very pale tovibrant hues. I can extend this even further by overlaying thinveils of colour, allowing the underneath ones to sing through.Or perhaps you could try watercolour? This has long been afavourite of flower painters and botanical artists and for goodreason. The way you can allow one luscious colour to randomlybleed into another, just as it does in nature, is verymouth-watering!
As you can tell, I am fanatical about flower painting but I dohope I have managed to awaken a little curiosity in you. Have ago! What have you to lose?
About the author:
Theresa Evans is a flower artist. Her flower paintings can beseen or her website http://www.flowerportfolio.com where you cansign up for her free e-course on flower painting. She is alsoavailable for commissions of a favourite flower.
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