“Lilies in the Morning”, Acrylic on stretched canvas, 24” x 36”

“Lilies in the Morning”, acrylic on stretched canvas, 24” x 36”, was completed early this summer. While it is a large painting and went through various concept revisions, eventually it took me less than a month to complete. I wanted to do a floral piece in the style of Georgia O’Keeffe’s calla lilies in a portrait orientation and so I settled on pink calla lilies. I used the technique of applying an underpainting of a complementary color with the first few layers completed in almost muddy neutral tones and then finished it off with more vibrant tones. I applied my knowledge of color theory and focused specifically on getting my values right, going from low intensity in the first layers and increasing the values and tonal range to achieve a finished look that made the colors pop by contrast.

Initial concept: blue underpainting

Next layers with complementary colors

I also wanted to focus more on the placement of light and shadows as the reference photo that I loosely based this painting on had a strong cast of sunlight over the flowers. However, I wanted to make sure that the flowers in the background were cast in shadow and under rendered, compared to the sharpness, texture and details of the foreground flowers.

I also applied the technique of neutral layers and a final vibrant layer of color for the foliage, toning down my greens with magenta, until the final layer where I used brighter shades of green.

At one point, when I felt I was getting too bogged down with the details, I proceeded to paint more impressionistically, laying brushstrokes down more confidently and accepting mistakes as part of the painting. This quick brushstroke technique (one look, one stroke) where I looked once at my reference photo and made one brushstroke, allowed me to focus on the directionality of the petals, and add certain touches such as the dew drops on the petals. The dynamic brushstrokes not only gave me more confidence and allowed me to enjoy the process more, but also gave the painting movement and energy.

"Lilies in the Morning", acrylic on stretched canvas, 24" x 36"

Painting awash in morning light