3 Poppies Mixed Media

I've been working on this painting of 3 Poppies for awhile. I'm still doing school work as needed, but it's nice to have some extra time for painting while I'm not at school teaching everyday. Still miss my kiddos though, even the ornery ones!

Anyhoodle, thought I'd share a couple of photos of the acrylic painting in process before I share the finished project. I did some underpainting of the poppies before painting on the red color. That always seems to help cover the white of the canvas easier.

And this is the finished painting. I used primarily acrylics, but also used Prismacolor colored pencils for some details and shading, which is what makes this mixed media. 

I really love how this turned out. I don't know what it is about poppies, but they seem to find their way into my paintings every now and again. I think I'm going to hang this one in the studio. I love the bright color of the poppies. It just makes me happy, and every studio needs a little spot of happy.

Paper Poppy

Today at school I was working on some sample projects for some upcoming Veterans Day projects. While I was at it I created a Paper Poppy. I volunteered to help with decorations for our Veterans Day program, so I thought paper poppies would be a great touch. 

Since I'm finally an art teacher again, I have great supplies on hand for doing stuff like this. So, I created a template that included 4 petals. I cut out two of those and glued them together. I used a circle with fringed edges as the center, and a little hint of colored pencil in the center. I love how this turned out. I will be making several more to use for decor in the gym for our program. 

I'm so thrilled to be teaching art again, and getting to use my creative inspiration for things like this!! And I'm very proud to be able to help pay tribute to our nation's veterans in some way.

7 Red Poppies

I finally had a chance to get back into the studio to complete my painting of Poppies that I began a couple of months ago. It's so difficult to find time for the studio when I'm working and taking graduate classes! But since I'm home for winter break I finally managed to get some creative time. And I finished my 7 Red Poppies painting!

This painting began with a black acrylic gesso background. Then I drew on my flowers and butterflies with white colored pencil, and then outlined those lines with a white paint marker. 

Next, I colored the poppy stems with colored pencils. I used some gray acrylic paint where the poppies would be, because gray makes it easier to get a brighter red paint color (this is especially true if you are painting with red on top of a white canvas or background!). Then I painted the poppies with a combination of watercolors and acrylics, and a touch of colored pencils too. The butterflies are also a combination of acrylics and colored pencils.

The next step was to paint over the black background. It looks light blue in the photo, but it's really more of a blue green (called Sea Foam, I believe). I left a little bit of the black around all of the imagery, then added a bit of teal colored pencil next to the black. I also re-outlined the white lines with my white paint marker, because they can get a bit dirty after all of the coloring and painting. 

The final step was to add some stenciled designs over the background, and I added some white dots over the stenciled areas for contrast and texture--and to help tie into the white outlines.

I really love how this turned out. I want to hang it in my home somewhere. I just need to figure out where!

Poppies and More Poppies

I started a new painting last month of one of my favorite flowers, Poppies. Life has been hectic and full of unexpected and not-so-fun surprises of late, so I haven't had a chance to finish it. But I wanted to share at least a peek of that work in progress.

This so far is a combination of acrylics and colored pencils. The background won't remain black, so this will look a lot different once it's completed. But I like the look of it so far! I'm hoping to get back in the studio soon to get it finished. 

Red Poppies in Mixed Media

I've loved poppies for a long time. It may have to do with growing up on the west coast--there were lots of poppies in California where I lived. Whatever the reason, I've always loved them. So yesterday, as I was looking at a stained glass project of poppies that I made for my mom in high school, I decided I'd paint some poppies while in my studio. 

I did these on watercolor paper instead of a canvas because I was in the mood for a bit of watercolors. So I created these using Neocolor II crayons, some colored pencils, and a Stabilo All pencil in black. I added some music stenciling in the background too--because I wasn't feeling like it needed solid color. But it needed something, so I settled on the stencil. And a little butterfly never hurts. :)

Red Poppies Redux

Last year I did a painting of a Red Poppy. I liked it, but I didn't love it. So I decided to work a little digital magic and try to turn it into something that I love. Guess what? It worked. Behold, my Red Poppy Redux.

So now instead of this just being an acrylic painting, it's become a mixed media painting: a mixture of acrylics and digital art. I truly do love it now. There's just something about poppies I have always loved. :)

Red Poppy

With Spring (seemingly) on the way, I was inspired to paint something with flowers over the weekend. And since I'm drawn to poppies a lot, I decided to do another poppy painting, but do it a little differently than I'd normally do. I wanted to create some texture, so this time I used some modeling paste on the canvas to give my Red Poppy a bit more dimension. AND, I decided I was going to paint a bit more loosely and not be so obsessed with perfect lines and edges. So this was the result.

I've used acrylics here, plus paint pens and a wee bit of Pitt artist pen too, and of course the modeling paste just to give the poppy the texture and dimension I was looking for. 

At first I was not loving this. At. All. I get so muddled down in details and making sure everything looks perfect sometimes. So it was a real challenge to paint more loosely and not worry so much. I actually hated this at one point and wanted to start over! But just at the point that I was about to give up--I kept going and within a few minutes I could see it becoming what I wanted it to be. And guess what? Now I love it! So much so that I think this will get hung at the farm house when the Hubs and I move (hopefully later this year). 

Even though this painting challenged me and pretty much made me hate it at one point, it also taught me some valuable lessons in patience and perseverance. I'm glad I didn't give up! Just imagine if Vincent van Gogh had given up on A Starry Night! You have to keep going. :)

Poppy Painting Stage 2

If you read my last post, Poppy Painting Begins, you know I started a new painting featuring poppies as my subject. I finished stage two of the painting over the weekend so I wanted to share it.

Stage two was adding the color. I ended up using oil paints (my first love, in painting anyway) because I just like its blending ability a lot more. So I got all the colors on and now it needs to dry for awhile. Stage three will be adding an antiquing effect of sorts. Since the flowers and their stems are 3-D, made with tissue paper, the color I add for the antique effect will be most pronounced on the flowers. But it will help tone down the brightness of the overall painting and colors too. I could leave it this way, of course. I do like it. But I had planned the antique effect all along, so I'm planning to see it through until it's finished. Wish me luck! Will post the final photo once I have it all finished.

Poppy Painting Begins

I was in the studio most of Sunday having a good, creative day (thanks, Mom!). I started a few projects that will be ongoing, and one of them is this Poppy Painting.

Please forgive the quality of the photo. I took it in my studio, which isn't where I  normally photograph my art and crafts. But since this one is a work in progress I just shot a few pics with my iPhone, and this was the best one. I really need better lighting out there!

Anyhoots, this is going to be a mixed media painting of poppies, inspired by a photo I found in a gardening book my mom had given me several years ago. I knew I wanted to paint flowers, but I wasn't sure exactly what kind of flowers. So I was browsing through the book and the photo that called out to me was of poppies. I remember living in southern California and seeing fields of poppies from time to time, so it was good inspiration.

I used tissue paper rolled up to create the stems, and just torn pieces of tissue paper for the flowers themselves. I used Mod Podge to adhere them all to the canvas, and then I painted white gesso over everything once it had dried. Normally I would use watered down glue instead of Mod Podge. Using Mod Podge is a first for me in a painting like this. But I just thought I'd give it a try and see how it worked. Hopefully I won't be disappointed, or have any problems with it.

I will use paint to add the color, of course. And my only real dilemma at the moment is in which kind of paint to use: oils or acrylics. I almost always paint in oils--I just prefer the blending abilities inherent in oils. But of course it takes oils awhile to dry, whereas acrylics dry really quick. Decisions, decisions! So I'm likely going to spend awhile debating which kind of paint to use. Sigh.

In the meantime I just thought I'd share step one of the painting with you, so you can kind of see the "before" image. Wish me luck!