Petal Pushers

15x22 watercolor of still life tulips set up in my dining room by an old oil painting. The light from the window behind illuminated the spring blooms perfectly. My hunter green wall adds a complementary punch to the vivid orange. This is painted on Saunders 140 lb cold press paper. Steps in creating this painting can be seen on this blog in February 2011. COPYRIGHT 2024 Kay Smith

Tulips Demo: "Petal Pushers" finished!

The final step, the last few green leaves, another dark magenta bloom in the foreground, the cast shadows on the wall and old oil are done. It is good to be completed and plan the next one. I hope those of you learning to paint in this medium have gained some insight into how I work and the intended effect of freshness and spontaneity.

Thanks for joining in, and a special thank you to the Splash girls in Noonday and Tyler for following along.
(Shhhhhh....don't tell anyone but these flowers are fake! Yep, they are silk)

Tulips Demo step 20

With the last tulip done in pinks (Taylor's Flamingo + permanent rose), the bulbs are done. Now to finish up the foliage using yellows and blues to mix different greens, placing light against dark and dark to light.

Tulips Demo step 19

It is time to fill in the leaves below and the remaining tulip after doing the orangey red one above that sits in bottom half of the old oil. I did do a light blue green glaze over the back wall again.

Tulips Demo step 18

Now that the three tulips pointing towards the old oil painting are done, here's a close up detail of them. Earlier I did add a vertical line for a shadow on the oil's frame.

Tulips Demo step 17

Now I've done the third orange with green bloom and completed the middle tulips, then started on the pale orange lower left as seen here, trying to overlap shapes and put darks against lights and vice versa.

Tulips Demo step 16

Now I must complete the middle section, so stay tuned!

Tulips Demo step 15

In this view, the magenta tulip and beginning of red one next to it are seen up close, just dripping in the rich colors against yellows of the old oil painting.

Demo Tulips step 14

The orange open tulip is now done with its center arylide yellow and gamboge at its base. I darkened the stamens using quin burnt orange and Midnight Blue, varying each one to be different.

Demo Tulips step 13

A close up view of the open tulip with its spread out petals. I used Organic Vermilion with touches of Permanent Red (DV). Stamens are quin gold while the base of tulip is Green Gold (DS) with quin gold.

Demo Tulips step 12

From this photo, you can see the back row is done. Front left purplish tulip is quinacridone violet, permanent rose, and quin magenta with darkest darks being Carbazole violet. Dark blackish stamens in the red/orange one is a mix of quin burnt orange + Midnight blue (AJ).

Demo Tulips step 11

Painting the pale pink tulip behind the white one was done using Taylor's Pink Flamingo by American Journey; it is an opaque. If you use more water, though, the pigment will behave like transparents. Its neighbor back there was also a darker pink using permanent rose. Red orange bloom was using Organic Vermilion, a most juicy vibrant orange by Daniel Smith; also used gamboge, permanent red (DV), and Grumbacher Red. The other white tulip is also started.

Stems/leaves were put in with mix of arylide and UB, Prussian, and manganese blue. Remember to always ALWAYS vary your colors. Tony Couch told us at his last workshop here to not go more than 3-4" without changing colors anywhere in a painting.

Demo Tulips step 10

Finally! We get to the fun part of the tulips and I want to get my white one done with a few glazes to separate its petals. Note the very light value of yellow green at its base. This is a mix of arylide yellow and phthalo green. That green is a strong stainer so be careful when using it as a little bit goes a long way.

Demo Tulips step 9

In this close up photo you can see where I've carried the lighter Prussian blue on down and around the blooms in front of the oil and underneath it to bottom lower left. Already I know I got too light value here so will have to glaze over it but only when it is DRY.

Demo Tulips step 8

I'm done now with the watercolor depiction of the oil painting. Extra colors used: Cobalt and ultramarine blue (DaVinci), Halloween Orange (American Journey).

Demo Tulips step 7

Now I've worked my way over to the far left side using Grumbacher Red, Permanent Red (Da Vinci), Organic Vermilion (Daniel Smith), Orchid (American Journey), and Green Gold (Daniel Smith).

Demo Tulips step 6

Now we're going back to the left side to lay in colors of the old oil painting of wine bottles. I'll try to mimic how oil looks using this medium. There's a first time for everything, right? I'm pretty sure this will require at least 2 glazes or applications if it is too light.

COLORS used for the frame: Raw sienna and quinacridone gold. Use same ones for the yellows along with arylide within the oil painting, plus quin magenta and cobalt teal blue.

Demo Tulips step 5

A bit more green to show you of the foliage area, middle right side. Keep in mind I am trying to put color in the strength I want it to be when dry. Since it dries 40% lighter, if your wet color looks just right, it ISN'T, and should be darker.

Demo Tulips step 4

Now I've gone down to begin foliage leaves. Using a mix of arylide yellow and Prussian on my 1" flat sable I'm going in between stems being careful to have the same value/color on both sides of a line. This is called the Rabbit Rule: If a rabbit goes to a tree and stops, he will keep going on past the tree on the other side. So you don't want your color to stop at a line; you want the viewer's eye to follow through.

Demo Tulips step 3

In this photo I've done the background wall all the way left to the edge of the oil painting's frame. Usually I only put down one application when painting directly alla prima, but can see I'll need to re-glaze the greenish midtones here.