Still lifes are my passion! And fresh flowers are perfect. They find their way into most of my still life set ups. The warm reds and vivid orange hues of these flowers captured my attention. I used a reference photo, but eliminated most of the other objects that were in the set up. I wanted to focus on the flowers because they were bold and adding the other elements would get lost in the composition.

I always begin with a loose sketch with an HB pencil. My main concern is placement of the objects and less on details. Usually I use a cold press watercolor paper that has some tooth and a medium weight. Most of the flower shapes are brushed with water to soften the sizing on the paper. I do not soak or stretch my paper. I begin painting with the largest brush and concentrate on the abstract shapes of the petals and relationships of adjoining shapes. Painting from my palette and also directly from the paint tubes, I use a lot of water and pigments, allowing the colors to mix and blend right on the paper.

I also drew into the wet shapes with a watercolor crayon for texture. Also used were some oil pastels, which repels the watercolor pigments. I like the texture it gives the soft edges. Some of the green stems are the oil pastel and it adds a color vibration that is fresh and moves the eye around the still life. A tea cup accidentally found its way into the design. Some of the brushstrokes suggested its shape, so I lightly painted it into the composition. It was not part of the photograph, but sometimes nice things happen while you’re painting and it adds a little surprise. Another element added was the powdered gold pigment for the vase. I added it into the wet shape and let it mingle and swim to other areas.