Lilys and Plums

I had a few problems with this painting - it's funny how some paintings seem straightforward and others are such a struggle! The lilys took all week to come out and I'd finished painting them by then! Also we moved our boat in the middle of me painting this so the light direction changed completely. Never mind - I don't think it came out too badly.

Carnations and Wildflowers

Here's the set up and finished result for my recent painting 'Carnations and Wildflowers in a Tankard'. I bought these carnations from the supermarket. I do like carnations but I don't think they're really considered a 'cool' flower! So I thought I make the whole thing a bit cooler by adding some stuff from the boatyard where I live. I picked some branches from a blackberry bush and some leaves and a bit of buddleia. Then I placed the flowers and leaves in a silver plated tankard I bought from a vintage fair. I used a pretty embroidered cloth which I think I bought from the same fair. The shell is from my small collection of shells which I plan to add to! I love the different shapes of shells and this is one of my favourites so I often include it in still life set ups.

Lisianthus and Two Lemons - step by step Here's another stage by stage description of how I painted 'Lisianthus and Two Lemons'

This was my set up. I really liked the clashing patterns of the orange embroidered cloth and the plate together, although I did think the scarf at the back might prove a bit too much with the other patterns, so I was thinking I might change the colours or just leave it plain.

Step 1 I outlined the shapes of the objects with a thinned mix of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. At this stage I was observing very closely the proportions of the objects and their relationship to everything else.

Step 2 I started to block in the colours, trying to get them as accurate as possible. At this stage I am quite concerned to get the flowers in as they can change quickly, and also to get the values correct in relation to each other. I kept everything quite low-key as I wanted the white flowers to stand out.

Step 3 The block in is complete - now the fun can begin!

Step 4 I felt a bit worried at this stage - I thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew with the complicated pattern and getting the ellipse of the plate correct! But there was no turning back...

Step 5 Phew! I was quite surprised it didn't look too bad. I had to do a couple of tweaks to the shape of the plate to get it to look convincing.

Step 6 I then proceeded to paint the orange pattern on the cloth, darkening the orange in the shadows, and I also decided to darken the background to make the flowers stand out more dramatically. I'd decided to lose the pattern on the scarf at the back and just paint it a plain blue-black.

Step 7 This is a scan of the finished painting. I've worked a bit more on the shadows in the cloth, refined the pattern on the plate, developed the shadows and highlights on the lemons and added highlights to the side of the plate and the flower pot.

Step by Step Through a Painting: 'Freesias and Vintage Tea Cup'

I just wanted to show how I created the painting ‘Yellow Freesias and Vintage Cup’ from the set-up shown on the left, in stages. It actually took me about a week to complete it.

Step 1 I always work on gessoed mdf as I like the hard surface, and I start off by applying a thin acrylic burnt sienna ground as I don’t really like working on white. This takes about 10 minutes to dry, then I make a rough drawing of the subject in front of me in pastel pencil or thinned oil paint. Then I get going on the flowers – the most important thing is to get them done as quickly as possible as they soon change! I use warm and cool yellows mixed with a little purple in some areas (purple tones the yellow down), raw umber and rose madder for the subtle tones of the flowers.

Step 2 As you can see, I’ve just about finished the flowers, but if they don’t change I will keep working on them throughout… I’ve painted the satin cushion cover in the background using Paynes Grey, Raw Umber and Yellow, to make a sort of greenish blue. I’ve also made a good start on the body of the jug. I mixed a combination of ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow, cadmium red and titanium white to make a creamy colour for this.

Step 3 I’ve painted the bodies of the jug and the cup and saucer. It’s best to get the basic modelling of these forms correct before adding pattern on top. I’ve also taken a good look at everything and realised the jug was too wide, so I’ve changed it. And I’ve changed my mind about the background. I didn’t like the severe line of the bottom of the cushion cover going across the back so I’m going to have the cloth going over it instead. I’ve made a start on that here.

Step 4 I’ve put in most of the doiley underneath. Now it’s getting fun because I can start putting the patterns on the jug and cup with a fine brush! I just added a bit of shine on the cup too as I couldn’t wait! (You’re supposed to do shiny bits and highlights right at the end).

The finished painting! Sorry about the colour differences in this picture – I used a scanner so it’s more accurate than the photos I took for the other steps. As you can see I’ve finished all the patterns on everything now, and put in all the highlights on the cup and saucer. I hope you enjoyed seeing the steps I went through to create this painting!