Having chosen a subject it’s time to think about the composition.But this painting is going to be using imagination.So firstly it’s necessary to draw from my Chinese art teachers’ method of painting.I need to see the scene I’m trying to portray in my mind.I would suggest at this stage closing your eyes and imagining a brilliantly sunny day.The sky is a wonderful shade of blue and if you look at the sun it glares in your eyes.It’s so bright it creates light on the pure white petals of the daisies.Their stems are tall and could move in the wind.If you lightly touch them with your hand you can feel how delicate the petals are.

You can look for reference photos of daisies to work from but try to keep your imagination open to a feeling of a summers day.

This emotion will flow to your painting and it is as important as your brushstrokes.

If you have followed my previous demonstrations you will know my next step will be to mix shades.

This stage is so important.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen students aim at their pallette,take pot luck at what colour they use for a painting and then be unhappy with the results.Sometimes you can strike lucky but in this painting the goal is to achieve a fresh look.How can that look be fresh if your pallette or shades are dirty to begin with?

So please start with a clean pallette and then mix your chosen shades and lots of them! You can’t expect to cover a large piece of paper with just a few dots of pigment! Don’t be stingy!;)

Here is my shade chart.

On the left you will see neat paint applied directly from the tube.Three shades.Alizarin Crimson,Cadmium Orange and Cerulean Blue.I have mixed these together to give me a variety of colour.

The diluted and mixed shades on the right I call my “whisper” shades.I work mainly with “whispers” and just a few ” shouts” of stronger pigment for detailed accents.

This exercise before any painting is so worthwhile.I can see here I have a wonderful flesh tone for portraits from the Cadmium Orange and Alizarin Crimson mix.So I am helping achieve results for future paintings at the same time as working on this piece.

We often feel so eager to start painting a masterpiece that we don’t spend enough time on a little research that will give us so much information to play with.

So please mix a few colours that portray a sunny day to you.You need to think of the sky,grass shades and shadows for the petals in blues and violets to contrast the warmth.

I am going to look at a variety of methods to approach painting daisies but as I want to look at painting negative spaces I will use masking fluid for this part of the demonstration.

Before the next stage however I would like you to look at your hand. Look at the flat of your palm.The centre being the daisy heart. Now cup your hand slightly and then totally. Look at the different positions you can hold your hand in and see the flat side too full on. Where can you see the daisy centre?
Use this as a guide for your daisy shapes and later we will use it for light suggestions. Aren’t hands useful ? Did you ever see them as a flower before?

Not all the daisies in this photgraph are round.Look at their many shapes. Oval,round,flat. So many shapes. Nature really does know how to create the most interesting picture.Let’s try to do nature proud in our reproduction!

I always use at least 140lbs paper,less will buckle.

Having imagined our scene of a field of gorgeous daisies I would like you to make a few shapes on the paper with masking fluid.Daisy type shapes from all angles.Look at your hand for ideas and the photo for reference.

I have painted a wash over my masking fluid shapes so that you can see how I’ve placed them.

I’m not worried about centres at this stage as I will add those later.I have made daisy shapes and splattered some masking fluid in places for a loose fun effect.I don’t want regimented daisies all standing in a row.Or a number that can easily be seen or counted.I’ve just placed them as my heart directed me to.

I will say at this stage I throw all technical rules and ideas out of the window as to composition.To me every painting should be something joyful. A pleasurable experience without worrying about what should be where.Just relax,paint from your heart and let magic happen.It can’t if you are thinking about it too much!

Let the masking fluid dry totally.

Next is fun.

We need to add the green foliage but no leaves. Just an impressionist view of the green supporting the daisies.It’s a wonderful time to experiment and try to let watermarks occur. Experiment.

This piece is aimed for the bin so you can do whatever you like to it and not worry. Never forget it’s just a piece of paper that has two sides!;)

I have so much fun painting this way.I listen to happy music and usually dance while I’m throwing paint at the paper.Try it, it’s so much fun, great exercise and has you smiling before you know it. Maybe it would be a good idea to close the door to the room where you paint before you start tho and tell everyone not to disturb you!

Here I’ve literally gone crazy letting green cover the lower part of the paper dropping in orange and violet in places. I’ve also used my brushstrokes in a diagonal manner to form strands of grass and making them look as though a breeze is softly blowing the stems in one direction. While the paint was drying I let a few drops of clean water fall, just a few to create watermarks of foliage.

If we could take the terrible word “control” right now at this stage and throw it out of the window and have fun we would have a ball. Who wants to be controlled anyway?

You?

Watercolour ?

Neither of us ?

Great,let’s just have fun and see what happens.;)

I would love to see your magic accidents at this stage if you would like to share them.

In a class session hearing everyone say WOW when they have let their experiments dry is amazing. I can’t hear your ” Wows” but I would love to see them so please share in the homework thread.I can also see how wet you are keeping the paper and help you from there.

We could make a virtual “WOW” type daisy chain!

Let your work thoroughly dry at this stage.

When the paint is totally dry ( be patient please! ) you can start to remove the masking fluid.Now the daisies will jump right out at you,at least their shapes will.

Wow, just look at that!

Magic!:)

All that’s needed now is for the centres to be added.Those that we expermiented on earlier.A few shadows and more foliage to create interest and support the daisies.We will look at negative spaces to create stems simply and easily.

Isn’t this easy so far?

Please say Yes!;)

I will add the final stages to this method and add other approaches later.

Everything I paint is connected in method.So I will use techniques from this demonstration for painting faces,pets and a million other subjects.Each should be fun and each can be simplified.Most importantly we should keep our work as fresh as a daisy!

(Please add any replies in the homework thread.)

Before I move on with this piece I would like to study a few other methods of painting daisies in this style.

Many times when I work I will place an overall wash over my paper first so that I am not working on plain white as a background.I will choose shades that appeal to me to make my subject seem more alive. I call this my “rainbow” wash.

Here is an example of what I mean.

Here centres of the daisies were placed on a dry first wash of a mixture of Cerulean Blue,Alizarin Crimson and Cadmium Orange.The wash was bright and lively.The centres now sit against colour which isn’t so startling and already a mood has been created.

I’ve gradually started applying Cerulean Blue behind the top of the daisies to make them stand out more but keeping their shapes slightly abstract.

There is a sense of movement in the flowers and now foliage is needed to make the flowers work.

The benefit of working in this way is that the variety of shades from the first wash will shine through your finished flowers giving a sense of harmony and magic that will be missing in the previous method.

The disadvantage can be that you will sometimes have to work harder to make the white areas work.It is very exciting though.

I suggest trying both methods and discovering which suits you best.

Please bear in mind that the first rainbow wash has to be in shades that you are using in the finished piece if you want harmony. For certain subjects I use completely different wash shades which creates a wonderfully dramatic effect.I will demonstrate these at another time in portraits or animals.

Also please remember the first wash has to be a whisper of a wash so that later shades can still be soft before you get to the stage of adding accents of strong colour.If you start too strong you have nowhere left to go.

There is no end to how you can approach any subject.

If you spend time exploring different methods and techniques on something simple like a daisy it makes everything else seem simple when you apply the same approaches to more complicated subjects.

I will confess this demonstration is leading up to painting a pet and a portrait later on. I will be using these simple techniques and it is easier to describe them on a simple subject to begin with. Hence the choice of daisies in this demonstration.

Just one more method to think about in this demonstration.

Drawing first!

A student in one of my groups asked me how to draw a daisy.She had followed the demonstration but felt she would be happier with a pencil to sketch each daisy first. I really don’t encourage “cloning” and was happy to share how I would approach sketching a daisy but I was amazed to see she had drawn a centre and was working painstakingly on drawing each individual petal around the central form.It was taking her forever.

I demonstrated a simple technique.

The secret with any painting is to simplify.

First draw the outer complete shape and then find petals inside that.They will meet the outer line/circle and look more believable as a complete daisy.

Here is an example.

I added colour around this form and must admit I enjoyed the results very much.

No masking fluid was used and the flower shape dictated where the colours should go.It’s clean and fresh and far more realistic but it doesn’t seem to “move” to me.

Unlike in this demonstration which was very quick.

Here are a few watery shades I mixed prior to a few quick demo’s.

All these exercises are invaluable to any painting.

I can decide which method I like or use a combination of each.

I could sketch one brilliant daisy in the foreground and mix a few different styles behind this “star”,use masking fluid as in the first demonstration or not as in the second on a coloured rainbow wash.

I have so many wonderful options and each is so exciting.

So it is time to think,experiment,practise and start sharing daisies.I will add my finished results here.

If you would like to start already and start the homework daisy chain I would be thrilled to see how you fare and which method appeals to you most and even more thrilled if you try each or a mixture of them all.

I will be back,I will offer critique to anyone who wishes for help and I will post more paintings here in this thread during January.

” Daisy,Daisy give me your answer do “:music:

On my ” Painting a daisy a day” adventure I’m adding this one because I was expermienting in washes in one of my art classes today.

A rainbow wash of Cerulean Blue,Alizarin Crimson and Cadmium Orange were used for another subject.I had part of the wash free after class so played with it for effect for this demonstration.

I’ve placed violet ( A/C + C/B ) wet in wet under the daisy and let it ” fuse” with the Cerulean Blue and almost damp orange on the petals. I’ve “helped” petals form by painting violet at the top of the daisy and I’ve strengthened the centre by outlining the base with a touch of Burnt Umber.

A ” blob” of this shade ran over the centre and I left it because I love these kind of accidents.As the daisy has dried I must admit I like the soft fluffy petal edge at the base of the flower.Shadows of Cerulean have formed petals too.

I think from just experimenting for fun we learn so much about what this magical medium can do.When we paint to frame we get so wrapped up in a scene that we sometimes forget the joys of just relaxing and having fun.From this tiny peice I will get a main painting that will be even more exciting now because of letting the colour dry here and seeing the results.

I will add a few experiments as the month goes by in case anyone is interested and finds this information helpful.

I would love to see some colour experiments and results in the homework thread along with finished paintings if you have time to share them .

Happy Daisy Days all.

Jean.