hi there,

perylene and perinone reds give a vibrant red note, which are more characteristic of flower petals than the cadmiums, altho all have some application in that situation.

But more important than the pigment, at least for learning to paint, is the difference in the color of the part of the flower in direct sunlight and the part in shade or indirect light. In terms of the coloring of light, they are not going to be the same red, with one being a lighter value than the other. Instead they will be mixtures of colors that appear to be reds when seen together, and the pure red, or red with a touch of white, or orange-red, and white, will only be in one area of the flower petal, near the highlight, but not in the highlight, between the shade and the direct light area. I hope you can make sense of this, but it is mainly making a very careful observation of where the petal is actually red, and where it is not.

The comment about glazing is also true i think, especially with colors in such delicate things as flower petals. Glazing can sometimes get the fine tuning of a color area that a simple direct opaque layer of color does not quite make satisfactorily. First try to hit the relationships with flat opaque notes together, then try a glaze where it seems to need something additional to make the light around the flower petal.
bigflea

Or, you could use pure red for highlights and DARKEN the other areas instead of the other way around.
Just an idea. I have never felt the need for a brighter red than Cad.red light for my highlights, and I used red in pretty much all of my paintings.

Oh, and welcome to WetCanvas!!!!! Try to get some pictures so we can see!

//matt

Other color options,

Quinacridone Rose – the dark red
Naphthol Red or Cad Red Med – the mid range red
To build the lights- a combination of Cad yellow lt and white, more yellow at first but the hilite comes to white.

hi beancrusher,
the image looks very convincing to me, and especially well done for a third try.

My question is are you sure that the highlight is red? What you have done so far shows some shifting of the local color, and in the light key you are describing ( very sunlit conditions), highlights can be almost colorless, or have a very pale tinge of color depending on the situation. For example, a very clear sky and atmosphere may turn the highlight slightly blue violet or rose violet, because the sky reflects down into the compostion and can be seen in the highlights on forms. Other light/atmospheric differences may cause the highlight to have a slight scarlett or yellow orange tinge, while a midday light may appear to be a whitish highlight.

Another example, such as the glare of a bright sunlight on water, the highlight of the water, )which may have very deep coloring all thru it), may appear to be colorless and even brighter than the sky, as if it is a mirror reflecting all the light (color).

bigflea

*this is your third attempt ever?
good job beancrusher! very nice work.

keep going….. you’re doing great!