A Timeline Process of How I Made March’s Art of the Month Print
March’s Patreon print is different from my usual motif and style so I figured I’d elaborate more about it in a blog post.
I used an orange Col-erase pencil to sketch out the chair and bouquet. I don’t typically sketch out my drawings beforehand, but because this was a subject matter I don’t have a lot of practice with, I thought it would be helpful. Especially since I’m awful at perspective.
Next, I took gouache and roughly blocked in the flowers. I was indecisive with the color palette so you’ll notice the many color shifts these flowers go through.
Straight away I dulled the flower stems from neon green to more blue-green. I painted the floor in the color ‘Smalt Blue’ from the Holbein Artist’s gouache, which has been my go-to blue.
Here is where I’m not sure what I was thinking; I changed the red flowers to essentially the same color blue as the floor and painted the wall in the same hue as the flower foliage, which resulted in a muddied bouquet, and no one wants that.
I went back to the beginning and brought back the brighter green and switched the flowers back to red. My original plan was to leave the chair completely white because I liked the negative space it created, but it was getting lost amongst the weeds - literally. I lined the chair and flower vase using the same smalt blue.
At this point, something still felt… incomplete. I had a big white chair staring back at me. I asked my partner “Should I paint it red?” and was met with an adamant “No.” Once the thought of a red chair entered my brain it wouldn’t leave and so I took a deep breath and went for it.
And immediately hated it.
I told myself we were still in the ugly stage and once I added detail with the colored pencils I would love it, and sure enough, it started to grow on me! I even remember thinking that it had a funky Van Gogh quality that I found (and still do) charming. I lined the flowers with a Prisma color pencil in the shade blue-violet; I find it to be a nice alternative to using black.
The only thing left to add was the shadow and it was done! I’m bad at imagining shadows so I just winged it. What I love is that I used the same blue-violet I used to outline the flowers for the shadow but they look like two different colors.
Art is so rad.
If you liked this piece or the post, consider supporting me on Patreon! This painting is March’s print, and I post content there that I don’t share anywhere else.
