Paintings of orchids.

Here are two of my paintings of orchids. These have been done in my usual vibrant colourful style. The paintings are based on some photos I took last summer at a display in a garden I visited. I also now have a good collection of orchids in my conservatory. They are such amazing plants, that bloom for ages, but need very little attention or watering. I will be doing several more paintings based on these.

I have painted the pale pink orchid in a way that shows off the subtle changes of colour, and reflects the deeper pink background. The swirling pinks in the background also draws your eye around the painting. I have used chromacolour, which is a type of liquid acrylic.

My second orchid painting has been painted in a similar style. I have used a purple background as strong contrast to the soft yellow flowers.


Here are two close up sections so you can see the technique used. I have worked in small dabs of overlaid paint, to build up texture and detail.

Both designs have been made in to greetings cards. I sell a range of my floral cards at craft fairs and through florists, garden centres and shops. 

You can buy these cards, at a good discount,  in my Etsy shop by clicking here

Painting of tulips. Step by step.

Here is a a painting I have done with the theme of tulips. It is a bright study that looks at the interaction of shapes, as well as the negative spaces between the flowers. I have exaggerated the colours and the light and shade contrasts. This will eventually be used as a greetings card design.

Here is how I created the painting. 

Initially I drew out some outlines. trying to get a good balance of shapes to fill a square canvas.

I then added a wash of colour over the background to make the flower shapes stand out more. This was just some purple ink I had leftover from another project. The ink ran a bit, and was messy...but at this stage it did not matter!

I then blocked in, , some of the basic colours I would be using, to get a rough feel of the idea. It looks very basic and simplistic at this point. This was mainly to check the composition worked.

Next I worked a bit more in to the background colours, using unmixed colours, to strengthen the design. I am using acrylic paint. 

I then started to play about with the background shapes, creating simple swirls and areas of colour.  I also added some extra colour to the tulips. I have introduced some pink areas, and started to block in areas of petal detail.

After this I continued to work more in to the flowers and the background. I am starting to work with smaller dabs of paint, which is my usual style! I am now doing the detail with Chromacolour paint, which is a type of liquid acrylic.

This is working toward the final painting now. I am adjusting colours and adding finer detail. I have made more green and turquoise dots in the background. I have put more yellow back in to the flowers.

Here, again, is the final painting. I have refined the detailing, using more layers of fine lines and dots of paint. The colours have been adjusted a bit more, working in to areas of light and shade.

I shall put this up for sale soon. I will add the details here when I do so.

What do you think??   Comments always appreciated.

A painting of irises in acrylics. Step by step photos.

I have just finished my latest floral painting.  I have used irises as the chosen flowers. I find the shapes so interesting.  I have taken many photos of irises over the years at garden shows, famous gardens and my own, slightly less famous garden!  

Using the photos for reference I planned a simple composition on the canvas. I painted in some basic colours using acrylic paint. I wanted to show a mixture of the open flowers and the flower buds.

The next stage was to break up the background with some irregular stripes. This emphasized the vertical stripes made by the stems and leaves.

I then worked in to the background quite a lot. I used a mixture of different blues, magenta's , pinks and purples to create a detailed and layered dotty background. I have also started to break up the surface of the leaves and stems with different greens.

My next stage was to work some detail in to the actual flowers. This was done with small dabs of paint. I also increased the layers of green on the leaves and stems, using a swirling pattern of shapes that reflected the way I had painted the background .

Following this I next decided to break up the surface with some long thin swirly grass like plants.

I am now working in more detail to all areas of the painting. I have added more grass areas and worked in to the buds.

And here it is, the final painting. I have just finished off small details and modified some areas of colour.

This painting will be on sale soon. The details I will post here.