I originally bought the tulips in March 2010. I was thinking at that time that if I left the canvas white where the tulips would be, that they would glow better and the yellow would be truer.
When I decided to actually develop this painting last weekend, I decided that I would be able to have a looser approach if the whole background was filled in and I wouldn’t have to worry about white canvas peaking through where I didn’t want it to.
Then I needed to actually start painting the tulips. Fortunately I had taken photos of the original tulips to work from. It developed quite quickly but didn’t yet have the contrast I wanted.
At this point I darkened up some areas and added some highlights to increase contrast. (Unfortunately, the photo doesn’t show this very clearly)
Here I laid in some thick layers of paint to given some texture on the petals and leaves and finally the signature!
A detail to show the texture. Since I have been finding it a bit of a challenge to stay loose when working on canvas (as opposed to paper) I am reasonably pleased with the results.
images (cc) 2011 Hilary Farmer
I love to see the progression. Very interesting post!
Thanks Max! It was interesting for me to look back on the process too…
Fascinating process!
Would love to see you execute the original experiment with the white canvas, too. Trust yourself: it’ll be beautiful!
Maybe… but painting on a coloured background has a lot of advantages. It’s a technique I learned when I took a painting course last year… but thanks for your confidence in me!
Hilary, I love the posts: and really appreciate seeing the stages, since I have seen the final product!
You make it sound simple, and I suppose if you have talent, it is.
Great painting and lucky M&D.
Les
Thanks Les! I’m glad you like it – and M&D too – it seems at home where they hung it 🙂