Thursday, June 17, 2010

June 17, 2010 - Day 311


Da Vinci watercolor on 140 lb Bockingford cold press watercolor paper

Since I have been having such great success with my flowers I thought I would try another flower that I love but have never been able to paint properly. I think these huge red poppies are just amazing because of the bright red color with the dark purple centers.

I am happy with the brightness of the colors. If you have been following my progress you will remember that one of my frustrations is getting the colors bright enough. I realized with the California Poppies that I needed to use almost straight rather than try to build up the color with a lot of thin washes.

The red of this poppy is Napthol Red (Mid-Tone) basically straight from the tube with very little water added. I created the light areas by lifting the color with clear water and a tissue. The darker red was created by adding a touch of dark green to the Napthol Red. The purple was created by mixing Napthol Red and Cobalt Blue.

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