Wild Flower Painting

I love to paint flowers!  
I have to admit I don't like to spend a lot of time planning and drawing and figuring out ahead of time what I am going to paint.
This painting is an example of that!

I was inspired by a painting I saw at a local craft store and wanted to see if I could paint something similar.
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This is how my painting started out!
​ Lots of blobs of bright colors.
I used bright acrylic paints on canvas placing 
various shapes across the canvas.

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As I looked at those blobs I started to add to the shapes that looked a bit like flowers. I added cool and warm colors to the flowers keeping them loose and fun.

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Once I had added a bunch of color I took out some tracing paper and imagined where I could see stems, flowers, leaves and drew them on the tracing paper over the painting.
Using the tracing paper allows me to experiment with the shapes and composition.
I then use a piece of chalk to draw on the shapes, stems, leaves and flowers. I simply wipe off the chalk and redraw a shape if I think it isn't working with the other shapes around it.

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Once I have all my chalk lines I used a lighter teal/white to paint the negative shapes and carve out the shapes of the flowers and leaves. 
This image shows in progress painting those negative shapes.

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The final painting!

After I finished the lighter teal background color I did go into some of the flowers and added some warm and cool notes to help shape the flowers a bit.  
Some of the flowers and shapes I left very abstract and others added a bit more detail. 
It's hard to know when to stop....I didn't want to fuss too much...so have left it here.

I will hang it on the wall and look at it throughout the day to see if anything stands out or seems to be needed.

​What fun to discover this garden of wild flowers!

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