"Like a distant answer" available here
Poppies, are one of my favorite flowers. This painting I started I toward the end of May, well after they were done blooming. They were just starting to bloom when I went out of town for 6 days and when I came back, they were already done. I've done a poppy painting the last several summers, so I thought I still needed to do one even though I barely had a chance to see them. I have some Icelandic poppies that are blooming right now, but boy, they don't last long either.
With this painting I knew I wanted to make the poppies out of painted tea bags and rip the paper for the petals, to give it that papery effect they have. Right away the flowers looked like they needed something. I decided to dip the edges of the petals in walnut ink and I really like the effect that had. This worked so well, I did this for the leaves as well. As for the background, I had no idea what I wanted to do. It started out with a light watercolor wash, mostly aqua and orange, then I started to collage, but it just didn't feel right, so I started adding browns, this wasn't good either, along came green and then yellow and I was still not feeling it, I had thoughts of ditching the painting and starting over, but I stuck with it and I added some white and lime green. This seemed to help a little but I still didn't like it, so in a last effort, I took a white wash over the entire background to tone it all down and I really liked the effect of that and felt that it finally made the painting come together. I'm so tempted to add more to the poppies, like some white, but I think if I try that, it will ruin it. I've decided to resist the urge and leave them alone.
With this painting I knew I wanted to make the poppies out of painted tea bags and rip the paper for the petals, to give it that papery effect they have. Right away the flowers looked like they needed something. I decided to dip the edges of the petals in walnut ink and I really like the effect that had. This worked so well, I did this for the leaves as well. As for the background, I had no idea what I wanted to do. It started out with a light watercolor wash, mostly aqua and orange, then I started to collage, but it just didn't feel right, so I started adding browns, this wasn't good either, along came green and then yellow and I was still not feeling it, I had thoughts of ditching the painting and starting over, but I stuck with it and I added some white and lime green. This seemed to help a little but I still didn't like it, so in a last effort, I took a white wash over the entire background to tone it all down and I really liked the effect of that and felt that it finally made the painting come together. I'm so tempted to add more to the poppies, like some white, but I think if I try that, it will ruin it. I've decided to resist the urge and leave them alone.
