Sunflower Demonstration Part 3

STEP THREE

This stage is where the whole balance of the painting comes together. It is time to paint the centre of the flower head. I use strong washes of ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson and perelyne red in the following way...beside the petals I start with the blue and as I work my way to the centre of the flower I make the mix more red/purple. After letting this dry a little, I drop some water back into the wash to make some backruns. This adds highlights as well as volume and texture to the wash. I also spray some paint in there to vary the colour. Spraying with a toothbrush loaded with paint will give a fine spatter, while a brush flicked against the side of a palette knife will give larger, more random marks.

When the sunflower centre is dry I start to strengthen the shapes of the petals even more by accentuating where they meet the flower head. Some spattering is done also on the leaves, and I may do several layers, as well as spraying with some water to keep on adding the layers. It is important to work on the painting as a whole so it looks well balanced.