Mini Demo: Pink Poppy Pastel Painting

'Pink Poppy Profusion'        6x8       pastel     ©Karen Margulis
available $95

It's a tongue twister! Pink Poppy Pastel Painting! I took the day to treasure hunt in my favorite thrift stores but couldn't stay away from the easel. I decided to paint something fast and fun....one of my favorite flowers to paint....poppies!  I took photos as the painting came together so follow along for a quick demo.

I am using a piece of tan Pastelmat paper. I really love this paper and I don't know why I don't use it more often. I have to make a note to order some. I love the soft velvety feel of the paper which doesn't seem like it would take many layers. But it does! I love the way the softest pastels just glides on like butter. I start my painting by drawing in a few poppies. I didn't have a reference photos really. Just a quick look at a photo of a wildflower meadow I took in Texas last spring.

Next I block in the darkest areas. I use about four colors that are close in value and layer them with a light touch. This dark area will be under the green grasses and stems and it will serve to hold them together.

Next I add the darkest greens. I will work from dark to light so I need to put in the darkest greens first. Notice how I am covering the dark purples? I also use a cooler blue green for the top grasses which will help push them back.

Next I put in the sky. I decide to make the sky pink so I use three values of a warm pink to give the sky a soft pink glow. I work the sky down into the grasses.

Now it is time to block in the flowers. I design where the flowers go as I block them in. I try to get an interesting arrangement of shapes and sizes. I also begin with the darkest pink. I used the side of the pastel to paint the petals. Notice the smaller chunks of pink in the distance. These will be small flowers farther away (to create the illusion of depth)

I build up the flowers with several values of pink. I use bold chunky strokes in the direction that the petals grow.

I continue to build up the flowers and use a Nupastel to draw some lines to define some of the petals. At this point in the painting I confess that I stopped taking photos. My sister called and we started chatting. I kept painting. I was just about done and only needed to add the grasses and stems. The last thing I did was add the yellow flowers for spice. That was fun!