Poppy Arrangement

18x10 watercolor on cold press 140 lb painted last week, a much looser design of floral stems in a vase. Although the red poppies command attention it is the stems in water that are very interesting in this tall vertical format. COPYRIGHT 2024 Kay Smith

Jigsaw Poppies

5.25x3 watercolor and ink using Micron 01 pen on 140 lb cold press Canson paper done last week, a quick miniature floral of red poppies blowing in the wind. COPYRIGHT 2023 Kay Smith

Poppies Gone Wild

2.5x4.5 watercolor over a mixed media background done a few days ago, an imaginary poppies garden of some red ones growing wild. No ref or pencil sketch was done, brush only. COPYRIGHT 2022 Kay Smith

Red Poppy Royalty

12x9 watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper done yesterday over a light pencil sketch. I've added additional blooms that were not in the photo reference. COPYRIGHT 2021 Kay Smith

December Poppies

6x4 watercolor on Fabriano rough 140 lb cold press paper done last month, an imaginary floral garden scene of poppies swaying in the wind. This work is SOLD. COPYRIGHT 2021 Kay Smith

White Tree Poppies

7x5 watercolor on Masters premium paper 140 lb cold press done today as it has been awhile since I've painted poppies. With this composition I was able to do more negative painting by first putting a light transparent wash in different colors over the background, then coming back in with darker values to carve out leaves and stems. COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Poppies by the Fence

22.25 x 16.25 watercolor on Langton Prestige 140 lb cold press paper painted today using multiple poppy photos.  I did quite a lot of negative painting in the background and worked wet on dry for the most part.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Proud Poppies

11x15 watercolor on Masters paper 140 lb cold press begun yesterday using brush only, no pencil sketch beforehand.  These colorful poppies are in an online contest and they sing a message of Spring and sunny skies.  Daniel Smith paints used along with #14 round brush.  Direct painting and no glazes or multiple washes.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Stephie's White Poppy

9x12 watercolor done last week while on a short vacation.  Photo courtesy of my friend Stephie who put it in the reference image library on WetCanvas.  I really enjoy painting white subjects as it is a challenge to get values right.
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kay Smith

Memorial Day - Remembering Freedom is Not Free

Poppies signify those soldiers who fought and died for our freedom whether here at home during civil war, or abroad such as two world wars, and middle east conflicts. This is Flanders Fields that I painted while reviewing that poem by Lt. Col. John McCrae that says it all. This is watercolor 20x30 and is SOLD to our good friend and neighbor, Navy veteran Jim Murray.   Here are the words McCrae wrote:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!

Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

Composed at the battlefront on May 3, 1915
during the second battle of Ypres, Belgium

Blog post COPYRIGHT 2018 Kay Smith

Purple Poppies

9x12 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper done today, my third in a mixed purple hue series, from some of my poppy photos.  I challenged everyone in the Florals forum of WetCanvas to not only choose a purple subject but to mix this secondary color using various blues and reds.  With this, I used Prussian blue + quinacridone violet and got a wide range.
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kay Smith.
 

Posh Poppies

15x11 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper done today using no reference and little pencil drawing.  I used the back side of the paper as it is slicker and allows for freer runs, drips, and blooms when water is spritzed with a fine mister.  In this vignette two orange red poppies were painted with Daniel Smith transparent pyrrol orange, aureolin, permanent rose, gamboge, indigo, ultramarine, quinacridone orange, cerulean, thalo yellow green, and green gold.  Tomorrow I'll join our Odessa painters, the Watercolor Horizons group at Alldredge Gardens for an all day plein air paint out, so watch for more luscious and loose florals here on this blog.
Image COPYRIGHT 2017 Kay Smith.

Love Stands Alone poppies

22x15 watercolor on Kilimanjaro 140 lb cold press paper done last week, a commission of red poppies for a couple's anniversary.  I added the lone white bloom to signify marriage between a man and a woman and/or bridal purity.  Several of my poppy photo refs were used but the picket fence that denotes the home is imaginary.  Every analogous red, orange, and pink on my palette was used. 
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.  This work is SOLD.

Poppies Afire

8x5.5 watercolor on Strathmore Visual Journal for watercolor, drawn yesterday then painted today using a different technique.  I'm not sure I like it so let me know if you do or don't.  This work is now SOLD.
Image COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Poppies - ACEO

3.5x2.5 watercolor on 140 lb cold press Canson paper, done yesterday using no reference, a loose splashy garden of red-orange poppies.  This ACEO (Art Cards Editions & Originals) is available on Daily Painters here in my gallery.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.