Poppies

Two quick sketches made as I practiced with wet on wet painting.

These two sketches came about as I practiced with mixing wet paint on wet paper, and wet paint on dry paper. To start, I took a big brush and painted a broad line of water across the top of the page before adding the flower heads. The flower stalks were put on after the paper was dry.

Poppies 1

In this first example I made the top of the page too wet, so that when I added the red/white mixture and the dark spot – things diffused too much. You can really see this on the left and right flower heads. With the two in the middle, I subsequently added a little more detail as the paper dried. I like the effect I got by going back and adding something as the paper dried.

Poppies 2

In this second example – I used less water to start which made it easier to get the softer effect of poppy petals.

Author: Doug Shaw

Artist and Consultant. Embracing uncertainty, sketching myself into existence. Helping people do things differently, through an artistic lens.

0 thoughts on “Poppies”

  1. Really like these, Doug. I personally prefer the top ones – I think the added detail – gives that sense of the different ways the petals fold & fall when moving in a breeze. Poppies are so delicate, so frail. Whereas for me the bottom ones are too similar, too uniform.

    1. Thanks Rachel, I know what you mean about the top ones – the two in the middle in particular. As is often the case – I’d quite like to combine elements of both….maybe further attempts are required? 🙂

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