Watercolour Poppy

I’m so happy with how this new painting turned out! I’m taking some more classes with Sandy Sandy HERE. She has a new series of poppy art, done on watercolour paper and Yupo. This watercolour poppy is done on watercolour paper, with Daniel Smith paints.

WATERCOLOUR POPPY

When I was about a third of the way into painting, I was ready to chuck this in the bin! But I kept with it, and this is the final product.

I’m also pretty proud of myself for sketching the reference flower myself! After painting, I then went over the image with a black Sharpie pen for the outline.

PAINTING DETAILS

Sandy has a great way of showing how to do a sketch, using a grid form. By drawing out the flower using the grid, it helps (me) to keep the shape & size correct. I would share the original reference image, but it’s part of the materials from the paid class.  But if you check out Sandy’s Poppy classes HERE, you can watch a free video on how she paints this poppy.

I sketched out the flower onto Arches 140 lb. coldpress paper. Next, I chose my Daniel Smith paint colours. I decided to go with a red/orange/yellow palette for my flower. The colours I chose are Pyrrol Scarlet, Pyrrol Crimson, Hansa Yellow, Cascade Green, Green Apatite, and then I mixed Quinacridone Rose with Black, for the very center. There are a LOT of layers of paint on this image! As I said earlier, when I was about 1/3rd of the way through, I thought I was going to scrap it and start over. Then I decided that I should push on, and work on layering the colours. I’m really glad that I did!

Once the image was dry, I added a background wash of Cerulean Blue. Finally I sketched the outline (by then, the pencil sketching was almost completely hidden) with black Sharpie. The very last step was to add the white highlights with a gel pen.

For the photo above, I laid a white mat over top. If I do frame this, I think I’d go with a black mat. I don’t have one in the right size, right now.

CHECK OUT SANDY’S POPPY CLASSES

Seriously, I never thought I’d be able to do a painting like this! I’m really excited for the next class I signed up for, happening this Sunday. Next, we’ll be doing a poppy ‘super bloom’ (multiple flowers) in watercolour on Yupo paper! It’s not too late to sign up for this, or other classes coming up. I  highly recommend Sandy’s classes for her loose style of painting, and easy going instruction.  If you’re wondering – no, I don’t get an affiliate percentage for sharing her classes – I just like them this much!

I’ve provided links for products I’ve used for my watercolour poppy painting. I do get an affiliate percentage, when you purchase with my links.  Happy shopping, and above all – creating!

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