Demo of White Tulips

Demo of White Tulips

6x6in  oil on canvas board    85.

One of the wonderful things about bulbs is that we can get beautiful, spring flowers in the dead of winter.


Artist Note:

This demo was done for the Artists Guild of Southern New Mexico, this morning.

The inspiration began last Thursday in the egg tempera class when
 another artist brought in some beautiful white and yellow tulips.

The artist raised the question of wanting to try a more contemporary approach using the egg tempera so I did the quick wash sketch below to show how cropping could simplify it.

There was something I liked about the egg tempera sketch so I thought I would try and see how it translated into oil. Keeping the lower, right area in a warm color and an upside-down 'L' shape for the dark pattern I blocked in the basic shapes with more fluid paint - adding an extra tulip, knowing it could easily be re-sized or removed. I was careful not to refer to the photo so I would not get caught up in detail.

For the final finish (at top) I used a #6 bright with short blocky strokes and slightly thicker paint, working all over each area to finish it off.
Making sure to vary the whites and open up the focal tulip so they would not all look too similar, I then made the third tulip smaller and added light and shadows on the leaves, followed by some small adjustments with warm and cool touches. Compare the top one with the one above to see what I mean.