Visit my Patreon Page for more painting instruction and Paint Along Videos!

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Timeless Tips for Painting Daisies

"Sparkle and Shine'            8x10         pastel             Karen Margulis
sold

As I prepare for my IAPS Wildflower demo, I am immersed in daisies. I wanted to share this older post as it is very timely. I hope you enjoy it!

 "My daisies look like a 5 year old painted them"   I hear this all of the time when I teach my wildflower workshop.  There is actually a very good reason why this can be true for many artists.  It has to do with how well we really look at the daisies when we paint them.  The problem is that often we don't observe these flowers as well as we should. Why not?

A Collage of Available Daisy Paintings
We often don't spend enough time observing the daisy because it is such a familiar flower to us. We think we know just how they look. We know they are white with yellow centers and that there are petals surrounding this center.  We probably drew daisy-like flowers as children whenever we had to draw a flower.  Our brains have developed the daisy into a symbol.

This is the daisy that we drew as children. The yellow circle surrounded by white petals.  Now as mature artists we often revert to this symbol without even being aware that we are doing it.  Our brain jumps in and helps us by supplying the symbol for a daisy and as a result we don't take the time to study the daisy and see that it isn't like our symbol!   The result: child-like daisies!


How can we paint more painterly mature daisies?  Here are some tips:

  • Take the time to really look at the daisies you are painting whether it be from photos or from life. Notice the colors and the way the petals are not always perfect and regular. Notice the direction of the petals. Are they pointing up or down?  What about a variety in the stages of the flowers? Are some not quite in bloom or maybe on their way out?
  • Color is important!  We typically think of the local colors of the daisy as being white petals with yellow centers.  But painting them this way will give them a sterile look. Add some colors to the petals and the centers. 
  • Pay attention to the light source and it will help you choose colors to make your daisies come alive.  Paint the petals in the shade with cooler colors...pale blues and lavenders.  Paint the sunlit petals with warm pale lights....pale yellows and peaches work well. Rarely do I ever use pure white.
  • Stems and leaves: Try not to paint every stem and leaf. Hint at some and the viewer will fill in the rest. Be especially careful not to make stems too thick and regular. You don't want them to look like balloons on sticks. I like to vary the thickness and pressure when I paint stems.

1 comment:

robertsloan2art said...

Thank you! This is so important!

Daisy forms are extremely common among wildflowers. They vary from the child version of a single straight stem, sometimes with paired leaves below it, to a very common type for small ones that has a complex branch coming up with many small branches and clusters of little flowers with blue or white petals and a yellow center.

That can be daunting! When you mentioned to suggest the stems and vary and break them rather than rendering each one, that's huge. The way you paint them reads true. I was closer in my three black eyed susans paintings than I thought but I could have used more hues in the shadows and built up the warm golds with reds and reflected greens.

It's quite a challenge in any medium! But pastels are better for loosening up than colored pencils or even watercolor, it's so easy to make strong loose marks and simplify. At least to me it is. Thanks for a great article!