How to Paint Sunflowers in Watercolor

Опубликовал Admin
29-09-2016, 10:30
911
0
Probably one of the most recognizable pieces of art in the world is Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. Van Gogh actually did many oil paintings depicting sunflowers. He called them flowers of gratitude, perhaps because they symbolize devotion and happiness. Sunflowers come in many varieties, and the flowers in shades of yellow, orange and deep red. The plant can grow as tall as ten feet. The dwarf variety is similar to a bush made of small stalks and has many little flowers. Because of their radial shape, sturdy stalks and big, heart-shaped leaves, they are easy to paint. Van Gogh used oil paints, but watercolor paints work just as well.

Researching and Planning Your Design

  1. Take a look at sunflowers. If possible, study a live plant. Supermarkets and road side stalls have bundles of cut flowers for sale in the summer when they are in season. Put them in a vase or jar or position them as if they are growing in the field.
  2. Use the silk variety as a model, if desired. Artificial sunflowers come in all levels of quality. Cheap ones are basic without much detail, but ones from a craft store have more textural nuances and more closely mimic the real thing. Silk flowers last forever, are easy to obtain and because of their wire stems can be arranged in many poses. Photographs of sunflowers are a good reference, too.
  3. Loosen up your hand by drawing sunflowers in a sketchbook. What do you see when viewing a sunflower? Start with the utterly simple general shape, a large round circle for the flower with a smaller disk directly in the center.
  4. Notice how the petals are arranged. Often they are in two rows in a simple radial pattern around the dark center.
  5. Make a smaller circle inside to represent the disk. Look closely to see that it is actually many small seeds or flowers compactly arranged.
  6. Draw the stem. Imagine that it is growing directly from the center of the back of the flower. Make it thick to support the large flower head. As the yellow sunflower develops, it can get so heavy the stem bends.
  7. Use the large, heart shaped leaves to good advantage. They can serve to fill the space along the stem. How are the leaves arranged on the stem, symmetrically or staggered? What type of veins do the leaves have? Draw the center vein of the leaf first as a wavy line to suggest movement and life to each leaf. Then add the two sides to form a leaf. Do small lines as tributary veins coming off the main vein on each leaf.

Sketching Your Sunflowers

  1. Place a sheet of 140#, cold press watercolor paper in either orientation.
  2. Sketch in pencil, light circles to represent the big flowers. Within each circle, draw a smaller circle for the central disk.
  3. Drop a pair of lines downward for the stems. Have the stems go off the page if you are showing the flowers growing outside in the earth. If the flowers are in a vase, criss-cross the stems and make the mouth of the vase large enough to appear to fit many flowers.
  4. Make the vase big enough to support the weight of the heavy flowers. There is no need to show the entire vase. You can depict only the top portion of it and have the rest disappearing off the page.
  5. Get the ellipses right. Where you are viewing your vase from, looking down on it, seeing it at eye level or viewing is from below will dictate how the semi circle, or ellipse of the vase’s mouth will look.
  6. Remember to copy the approximate curve of the mouth of the vase at the base of the vase, if it is visible in the picture. If you are showing the whole vase use help getting the curves of the vase's sides to match. Draw one side of the vase on tracing paper, reverse it and copy it onto the opposite side.
  7. Use the leaves as a design element. They can also act as a filler to connect the flower head to the vase.
  8. Stand back and look at your layout. Make any corrections or additions at this point since pencil is easy to erase and making changes will give you more satisfying results after it is painted.

Painting Your Sunflowers

  1. Set up your palette of paints. Squeeze the colors around the edge of the palette to keep the center free for mixing. If using tube paints, choose, as Van Gogh did, at least three colors of yellow. Put out orange, two browns, three or more shades of green, blue, violet and red.
    • If using a box of paints with dry pads, dampen with water to activate them.
  2. Start painting. There is no correct place to begin your painting. Start where you wish, but many artists begin with the subject matter first. Keep in mind that wet areas will bleed together if laid down touching one another. Keep a tiny dry line of paper between colors or work around the page allowing areas to dry before painting next to them.
  3. Form a background. Backgrounds can be whatever you want them to be. Look at your color wheel and to see what is opposite the yellows and oranges of your flowers. Those blues and violets are called complementary colors and make a lovely foil for the flowers. Van Gogh often put the flowers in a room and used even more yellows and oranges in the backgrounds of some of his works. There is no hard and fast rule.
    • If your work is an outdoors scene, put appropriate items to show off your flowers; a building, a fence, green trees, the sky, etc.
  4. When you have painted the first layer of your piece, let it dry. Take a few steps back to view it as it would be seen on a wall, slightly from a distance. Make any adjustments at this point and allow to dry again.
  5. Get a small brush and do some calligraphy. Accent parts you want to bring into focus with lines and darker or lower values of the body colors. If necessary, put in some small shapes. Just keep the linear brush work to a minimum. Remember to play up your center of interest with touches of more intense color. This is the place to show a lot of detail, too. You are guiding the viewer’s eye through the work.
  6. Let the piece dry thoroughly. Erase any pencil guide lines if you wish. Put it in a mat and frame and hang it to enjoy.

Tips

  • You needn't travel to the South of France to walk in Van Gogh's shoes. The beauty of art, is that you can do it anywhere.
  • Sunflowers provide practical things for our use; seeds that are edible for people and birds, oil, butter, components for bread and many others. It might be fun to do another painting of sunflowers showing this practical aspect of the flower.
  • Think about whether you are attempting to imitate life or painting emotionally, as Van Gogh did. Both are good approaches and can be done according to your mood.
Теги:
Information
Users of Guests are not allowed to comment this publication.