A contemporary painting of a rose.

I have painted this rose painting in a modern style. Although it is fairly realistic at first glance, with closer inspection you will see an array of layered colours and detail.

The painting has been done in my usual acrylics. I have used a mixture of Chromacolour, Procolour and Golden paints for this piece. I have used brushes size 4 down to 0000.

I have exaggerated all the colours, and added in contrasting and complimentary colours to all the flowers and leaves. The white roses have very little white in them, They are composed of a whole rainbow of colours!  You can see this in more detail in the cropped sections below.

I have deliberately not used green for the leaves. I used a slightly limited colour range based on pink through purple to blue on this piece. This gives cohesion and links the leaves with the background and main flower colours ( or colors if you are reading this in America!! ).

The yellow on the rose petals just lifts the whole colour scheme. It adds light and warmth.

The painting is now in a simple white frame.  I chose white as it works well with all the white areas in the painting. A wooden frame would have been one colour to many in the overall look. White frames look clean and modern, They do not compete with the artwork!

This was on sale in a recent exhibition, but despite a lot of interest did not sell. However, it will be up for sale again soon, Details on here when I have decided where it will be sold. 

Comments always appreciated.

Paintings of roses.

I have gone through a bit of a rose phase recently!

Here are a couple of my recent paintings.

The first one is based on some beautiful climbing roses I saw at Mottisfont Abbey earlier in the summer. There is a specialized walled  rose garden there.  I have exaggerated the colours a bit to make a strong painting.  My favourite bit of this is actually the faded rose at the bottom. It was the most fun bit to paint with lots of different colours in it.

My second painting is a study of magenta coloured roses. It is a simple composition but has powerful colours!  I wanted to show high contrasts of light and shade on this one.

Both these painting are done in acrylic paint. Both have been framed. I am moving away from canvas paintings and more towards framed ones at the moment. However I almost gave up on framed ones beforehand, due to breakages transporting to and from venues....we shall see!

Here are the framed paintings, with a another work alongside. The extra one features ( step by step ) on a previous post on this blog.

The bottom two paintings will be on exhibition in Houghton Lodge next month. Please see my exhibitions tab at the top of the page.  The top one I may save for the Society of Floral Painters exhibition next year.

My Roz-Artz Facebook page has most recent updates on my work. Please Like the page!

Painting a red rose in acrylic. Step by step

Roses are wonderful flowers to paint. The way the petals overlap and catch the light is fascinating!  I find them quite challenging to capture the depth and solidity of the shape, as well as the delicate, almost transparent, effect of the petals against the light.

I have painted a red rose. 

Here is how I did this painting.

Firstly I made a sketch. This is done using pencil with broad strokes. It is a very rough drawing just to get the feel of the shapes. I have used a thin black pen on some of the edges too.

Next I did a tonal study using thin washes of black paint, followed by more pencil work to define the shapes. I have added a few swirls in the background to indicate how I want the background to look.

Now on to some paint! I am working on thick card, as this painting will go in a frame. I sketched out the main outline shape of the rose first. I have decided to do the background in a soft beige peach colour.

My next stage is to block in all the light and dark areas. I am using acrylic paint. I am using a mixture of different liquid acrylics, mainly Chromacolour, Procolour, Golden and AJ Vallejo. Most of this work is done with medium sized brushes sizes 4 and 6. Some of the smaller shapes are a size 2 brush.

The colours are built up in layers. I put the darkest tones on first, as this helps show the structure. I then add middle tones which gives the rose some form. I then add white highlights. Once I have the three basic tonal areas done, I mix up the "in between" colours and add these over the top.

This is a red rose, but I am using orange, pink, brown and purple as well. This is to break up the surface and make the painting more visually interesting. I would struggle to get enough contrast without a wide range of colours.

My usual painting style is to work in a "sort of" impressionistic way, with lots of small dabs of paint. My paintings are built up of many layers of paint, which give a textured look. I like to make the background an important and integral part of the painting too.

Here are some close up areas of my technique, as I develop this painting.

The final painting,  I have added grey, pale blue and white dots in the background to make swirls.  I have worked in many layers of additional paint dots and lines on top of my initial colours. I have used the paint in different directions, on the petals, to show the way the flower grows.

This will go in to a frame. I will update this post to show you that, when I have framed it. Also I will add in the information where it will be on sale later.

How to paint a rose in acrylics. Step by step.

Roses are just such beautiful flowers. The ones I like best are the ones with subtle changes of colour within them. I also love the really scented ones! 
I am writing this on a cold dark February day. Unfortunately there are no roses blooming in my garden this time of year.

It is best to paint from the real thing if you can. However, if you take some quality photos during the summer months they will get you through the winter. It is best to take the same flower from several angles, so you can really get a feel of the structure as if you were turning a cut flower around in your hand. Also zoom in to get close up details.  I particularly like back-lit roses, where the sunshine makes the colours and contrasts exaggerated.

Here are some photos I used for inspiration for this painting.

Before I started the painting I did some sketches to work out the shape and composition I wanted. The following one was my favourite. It shows the rose at a good angle. I used pencil plus a little bit of black pen to show the really dark areas.

I then did a pen and ink study to work out where I wanted the highlights and shadows to go. I traced the outline from the drawing above, so they would be the same.

I then copied my design on to some heavyweight white card. I painted in the background first to isolate the rose, and make it easier to see what I was doing!

Next  I started to put in some colours. At this stage I am not being too accurate, or mixing the colours much. I am using Chromacolour which is a type of liquid acrylic paint. This is a very small painting and I am working with size 2 and 4 brushes to just get the paint on fairly quickly. My main aim at this stage is to show individual petals. They all look a bit muddled as a drawing. Once the paint is applied it is easier to see what goes where!

I keep going with the "filling in" stage. Now I have a better ides of each petal shape. It looks very simplistic and messy at the moment!

Following this stage when I have filled in the whole flower, I start to be a bit more selective with the actual colour I need for each section. I work over the entire painting trying to get the colours more realistic. This means blending and mixing to achieve the shades I want. I have also added more paint to the background.

I have looked more carefully at the dark and light areas. This gives the painting some depth, and makes the rose take on a 3D effect. Previously it looked very flat.

Next I just play with the colours until I am happy with them. The photos I am working from show a rose with lovely shades of pink, red orange and yellow. I need to recreate these blended colours . I am also starting to layer up some of the texture on the petals. The rose is back-lit so the veins and structure of the petals stand out, as the light shines through them.

The next stage is just building on what I have been doing, I continue to add small dabs of paint to show the petal structure.  I an now using very small paintbrushes , sizes 1 and down to 000.  I have worked more white paint on to the petals to increase the feel of sunshine.

I have now completed my painting. I have finished the petal detailing, and adjusted the colours where needed. I have also completed the background with soft dabs of blue paint.