RED POPPY - PAINTING DEMO

Oil Painting Lessons/Oil Painting Demos
Contemporary Art

RED POPPY DEMO

Oil Painting Lesson/Demo

by Beatriz Socorro

9x12 Oil Painting - Red Poppy

If this is your first visit, please go to and read:

1. PAINTING TIPS
2. ART NOTES
3. TULIP DEMO
4. GETTING STARTED

It doesn´t matter if you don´t have the same colors in your palette as I do. Experiment with the colors you already have and you might come up with something even nicer.

STEP 1 - After transfering the sketch onto the canvas, fill in the background with a wash. For this painting I used for the lighter tone: Cadmium Yellow Pale + Cadmium Yellow Deep + White. For the darker tone, use: Orange + Cadmium Yellow Pale + White.

Remember the "fat-over-lean" rule and use the same medium mix for each layer as used on the Tulip Demo.

After applying the wash to your canvas, wait for it to dry well to the touch before going any further. This layer wont´t take long to dry.

Here, if you enlarge the picture, you can see the original sketch of the leaves. I didn´t like them, so I changed them. It shows through the wash. After it dries, I will add another coat of the same color.

STEP 1 - Oil Painting Lesson and Demo - Red Poppy

STEP 2 - Now apply a wash to the flower and the leaves.

Flower:  Grumbacher Red + Cadmium Yellow Pale + White

Leaves:  Sap Green + Cadmium Yellow Light

Center:  Pure Violet

With pure Grumbacher Red, outline each petal.

On the leaves, I started out with Viridian Green + Lemon Yellow + White. As I went along, I had a change of heart. So if your Sap Green + Cad. Yellow Pale mix doesn´t look the same as in the following picture....don´t fret.

STEP 2 - Oil Painting Lesson and Demo - Red Poppy

Now, allow to dry well.

STEP 3 - Use pure Cadmium Yellow Pale to highlight the flower petals. Remember the "fat-over-lean" rule for each additional layer you apply.

In the following photo, on the lower right petal, you can see what the yellow looked like when I first applied it. The other petals show the result after gently and softly blending the color.

Go ahead and blend in your color.

To obtain the jagged edges along the highlight and the lines running through them, use a very small "bright" brush and remove some of the yellow paint you just applied, thus allowing the underlying color to show through. Do not apply too much pressure or you will ruin the underlying coat of paint. Wipe your brush after each use.

You can see that I was still trying to figure out what to do with the leaves.  But YOU can go ahead and fill them in now using Sap Green + Cadmium Yellow Light (see photo for Step 4)  or wait for the next step.

STEP 3 - Oil Painting Lesson and Demo - Red Poppy

NOW, ALLOW TO DRY WELL TO THE TOUCH BEFORE GOING ANY FURTHER.


STEP 4 - Glaze all the petals with Grumbacher Red. Notice the glaze is thin enough to allow the yellow and orange underneath to show through.

For the glaze, I used pure Linseed Oil. Remember Linseed Oil has a tendency to yellowing with time. In this case, because of the color of the flower, the yellowing won´t matter.

Now, fill in the center of the flower. Remember, for the center this is the second coat, so apply the appropriate medium mixture.

Use pure Violet for the the outer circumference and use White with barely a touch of the same violet for the center.

Once this is done, make a glaze with the Violet and add the deep shadow area at the base of the petals.

STEP 4 - Oil Painting Lesson and Demo - Red Poppy

Notice the difference in color in the backgrounds. This is due to the existing light at the time I took the photo. I took this one on a rainy day.

You´re almost done!!

NOW ALLOW TO DRY WELL TO THE TOUCH.


STEP 5 - I didn´t like the whitish center of the flower. It just didn´t look right to me...so, I added a coat of pure Violet.

In Design, the shape that draws the eye the most (and this has been tested and studied) is the circle or the dot. The colors that draw the eyes the most are: mustard yellow, red and white. This is why they use these colors and shapes for traffic signs and lights. This is also why many prominent companies use these colors for their ads and street signs. As you drive down the road along a multitude of signs, which are the ones that catch your attention?

For this reason, I subdued the center of the flowers both in this demo and the Yellow Poppy Demo. A bright, round center "glues your eyes" to that spot and your eyes have a hard time staying away from it. They just don´t want to travel to the rest of the painting.  Try it.

I hope you have been keeping track of your layers and using the appropriate medium mix.

With "almost white" paint and a very, very small "round" brush, add the stamens.

STEP 5 - Oil Painting Lesson and Demo - Red Poppy

Alright!! You´re done!

This method requires patience. What I do, to keep myself from getting restless or discouraged, is to work on several paintings at a time. This way, while one dries, I work on another.

Hope you enjoyed it.

God Bless!!

Beatriz Socorro