20131103 - Sunflower with a Different Perspective

I enjoy finding interesting photographs and subjects within them. A friend recently gave me explicit permission to paint his photographs. This photograph he made of this sunflower with the sun behind it, lighting it from behind. It will make an interesting subject.

When rendering it in watercolor, I think I will shoot for complimentary and split complimentary colors (using the CMY, or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow color wheel). Thus, the compliment of yellow is blue (on the CMY color wheel). I will paint the green leaves toward the bottom where there is more of an orange coloring of the sunflower. This will yield the split complimentary colors to the complimentary color of blue.

But first, I will use pen & ink to create the value sketch (of the shading) of the painting. It will act as the under painting for the finished work. I will use an 11x14 inch Fedrix Watercolor Canvas Board. Unlike a conventional canvas with Gesso, watercolor (and other wet liquids, such as ink) does adhere to the surface. However, unlike watercolor paper, the watercolor and ink doe not fully absorb into the canvas. Thus, it is possible to lift color rather easily. Where this works well is when you do NOT intend to paint one color over another in added glazes. Though it can be done (and I did it with the bee in the Thistle with Bee painting), you must be very careful about adding color onto an area that already has color.

So, here's hoping you will enjoy the final painting.