POPPY ON ARCHES BOARD

THIS POPPY is what I would consider a botanical painting: realistic, includes the buds and leaf shapes for identification, no background except the white. This poppy is a combination of one I found on Pixabay and a photo I took. 

COLORS USED: permanent rose (or magenta); quin coral; new gamboge; cobalt or cerulean blue; dioxizine purple or you can mix magenta and cobalt. For QoR lovers you can crack open your transparent pyrol orange. BRUSHES: I used a #8 round throughout and a small lifting brush at the end; also a small fan brush. 

STEP ONE

Sketch or trace the poppy onto Arches board. Miskit a few white drops in the center. Wet the petals and apply yellows and reds wet into wet. Before it can dry, wrinkle a piece of plastic wrap, tracing paper, or wax paper and press it over the flower. Weigh it down and allow it to dry until you have a wrinkled effect.

While waiting for that to dry, glaze a green made from new gamboge and cerulean over the buds. Apply a light wash of purple (made from magenta and cerulean or cobalt) to the sides. These are just underglazes. Also glaze green over the stems and leaves. In the leaves, try to leave a thin white line down the middle. I also added drops of cobalt into the wet green mixture.

When the petals are dry glaze over the center with a light purple, leaving tiny bits of white. (In this picture it looks darker; but I wanted to do it with purple.) While the purple is wet, pull some of the paint up at the top of the dark center with a thirsty brush, leaving a lighter purple. Remove miskit when dry.

STEP TWO

Check your reference and find the darkest parts of the flower. (especially near the center, underneath other petals, etc.) Paint those in with Quin coral, and fade the color out gently with water. Find the deepest wrinkles and paint those in: hard line on one side, softened away on the other. 

TIP: When painting or drawing in the crinkles, paint them emanating from the center and curving in the direction of the petals. Don't try to space them too evenly apart, not the same length or width. To paint a crease, paint a hard edge on one side and soften the other side with water. (You will use that in clothing folds, flowers, etc.)

Continue to deepen darks in the creases. On the right side, the deep part of the petals

should have a deeper red, such as alizarin crimson; or make it by adding some purple to your reds.

STEP THREE

After all your creases are done, wash over the flower with some transparent pyrol orange (or a mix of coral and new gamboge.)

STEP FOUR: THE BUDS, STEMS

Darken the green mix that you used before by adding a little blue. Wash that over the buds, and while damp, add some purple along the sides. Before that loses its shine USE YOUR FAN BRUSH to lightly pull out some "hairs" along the edges. Do the same with the stems: Lay down the green, and while wet, add purplein shaded areas (along one side and underneath where stems cross or go behind a bud or flower). Before it loses its shine use the fan brush again to pull out "hairs" or fuzz from the stems. Also strengthen the greens in the leaves, adding some cobalt or purple in more shaded areas.

Darken the stem underneath the flower with some orange. Also glaze some orange over the bottom leaf where it might reflect the color of the poppy.

FINISHING UP

Since I can never leave a flower alone, I used my scrub brush and clean water to first get rid of any spots/drops of paint that reached the white surface. Then I chose a few wrinkles to hilight by lifting paint from the top part of the wrinkle. Concentrate on the ones that you want to appear to come forward. I also lifted a bit on the part of the bud stems that curve downward, where the sun would hit them, and a bit on the left side.