how to paint a sunflower

last week i painted an ikea malma mirror with sunflowers. a couple of ladies asked me to take them through the steps. i thought that it would be clearer if i drew up a rough instructional guide. i would like to share this instructional guide here. hope that it will help anyone who wants to try and paint a sunflower :)

the techniques i use :
> one stroke painting - round brush #6
> stipple work- stippling brush (or any old, stiff, flat top brush)
> dots work - stylus

the colors are from jo sonja, you will need a color converter chart if you are using another brand.
petals : yellow oxide, yellow light, warm white, yellow orange (orange cadmium), pale gold (optional)
center : brown earth, burnt umber, yellow oxide, yellow light, warm white, moss green

how to paint the petals :

click to enlarge

step 1 :
- draw a circle to represent the center of the flower
- proceed to paint the first layer of the petals. do this sparsely
- painting stroke is from out to in as shown by the arrow
- fully load round brush with yellow oxide. using the tip of the brush, start with a little wiggle then press (and spread) the whole brush down as you approach the flower center. that's how you get the thin to thick stroke of the petal (as shown in the picture below)

wiggle with the tip of brush

and press

step 2 :
- using the same stroke technique, paint the 2nd color : yellow light
- occasionally half load the brush with yellow oxide to give the petals a 2 dimensional color

step 3 :
- add the 3rd color warm white
- maintain yellow light as main color. fully load brush with yellow light, and *tip* the brush with warm white. use the same stroke and you will get the variegated look on the petals

*tip* - tipping is to fully load the brush with one color and then adding a dash of another color just at the tip of the brush

tipping

variegation

step 4 :
- add the 4th color yellow orange or if you want a more dramatic look, cadmium orange
- by this stage your sunflower petals are almost done. therefore the orange is used just for tipping and a little variation.

*experiment with full loading, half and half loading and tipping, and your petals will be alive with variegation :) my art teacher told us to keep the brush somewhat dirty, that means don't wash the brush clean when you go from one color to another. when the colors mix, that's when the magic happens :)


now for the center of the flower :

click to enlarge

step 1 :
- base the center of the flower with a medium brown color. i use brown earth here

step 2 :
- use the *stippling* technique to stipple the outside of the circle a darker shade of brown: burnt umber
- stipple the inside of the circle with yellow oxide and then in the very middle, a little moss green
- blend the colors so the shade goes from dark to light

*stippling is done with a flat stiff brush (any old brush will do). load color on a rather dry brush and start pounding the brush on the place you want to stipple. the effect will be an uneven scruffy looking layer of paint. usually used to create a fuzzy effect like teddy bear fur or the center of a flower.

stippling

step 3 :
- use a stylus, or any round tip apparatus
- add dots in yellow light, warm white, moss green to the center of the flower

stylus and dot work

and you are done!

here is an example of the mirror i painted :)



for the extra glow, as this is going to be a christmas gift, i added an extra color and tipped some of the upper petals with pale gold. i also *spattered* the flowers with diluted pale gold to create the stardust effect.

*spatter - loading the paint on a toothbrush and running your thumb through the brush to create little spatter dots. like we did as kids in school :)

hope this is enough information for those of you who wants to try painting a sunflower :) but in anything, practice makes perfect!

happy pimping! :)