I finally had a chance to get back into the studio to complete my painting of Poppies that I began a couple of months ago. It's so difficult to find time for the studio when I'm working and taking graduate classes! But since I'm home for winter break I finally managed to get some creative time. And I finished my 7 Red Poppies painting!
This painting began with a black acrylic gesso background. Then I drew on my flowers and butterflies with white colored pencil, and then outlined those lines with a white paint marker.
Next, I colored the poppy stems with colored pencils. I used some gray acrylic paint where the poppies would be, because gray makes it easier to get a brighter red paint color (this is especially true if you are painting with red on top of a white canvas or background!). Then I painted the poppies with a combination of watercolors and acrylics, and a touch of colored pencils too. The butterflies are also a combination of acrylics and colored pencils.
The next step was to paint over the black background. It looks light blue in the photo, but it's really more of a blue green (called Sea Foam, I believe). I left a little bit of the black around all of the imagery, then added a bit of teal colored pencil next to the black. I also re-outlined the white lines with my white paint marker, because they can get a bit dirty after all of the coloring and painting.
The final step was to add some stenciled designs over the background, and I added some white dots over the stenciled areas for contrast and texture--and to help tie into the white outlines.
I really love how this turned out. I want to hang it in my home somewhere. I just need to figure out where!