Flower Paintings Archives - Page 2 of 2

February 9, 2021February 9, 2021

Little Hand Painted Cards or Prints?

Two blooms on a gold background, one of my hand painted cards. — **Blue Flower Card**

Good morning everyone. Today I thought I’d show you two little hand painted cards I made a couple of weeks ago. Well I had been looking at YouTube and thought I could try it out. The flower is just intuitively painted, but the challenge for me was the tiny size of the paper. In fact, only three and a half inches by five. And that’s tiny for me! Also, the other technique I tried out here was to put down the background first, something I never do. Actually, there’s gold paint on here too, to give the whole thing a bit of sparkle. But, you maybe can’t pick that out on the screen.

The sunflower, another of my hand painted cards.

A bold, graphic sunflower on a dreamy, blue and white background. One of my hand painted cards. — **The Sunflower Card**

To be honest, I love painting flowers, especially the ones I pick from my own garden – see here . But I made this one up – not something I do often, because my visual imagination is quite poor.

Any way, I practised laying down a background first and this one was in watercolour wash with a subtle design in white pen. If I remember correctly, the flower itself was in acrylic. To tell you the truth, often when I’m doing mixed media, I grab anything on my workspace. It all gets added to the mix, then I forget what I used!

The Printed Card

Looking down on a fish pond, just catching a glimpse of several fish rising to the top. One of my printed cards. — **The Fish Pond**

Finally, do you prefer the hand painted cards or the print? This is one I had printed last year from an acrylic painting of carp rising to the surface of the water to be fed. Actually, my intention was to try to show the bodies of the fish covered by a thin film of water. As I recall, the theme of our Art Society project was ‘Under Water’. Undoubtedly, the cards made by hand are more special, but I have found that people also really appreciate a print. Fortunately, you don’t have to make your mind up. Because you can just do both!

If you want to see more flowers, have a look at my gallery here . And, don’t forget, if you find anything you like, go to the Contact Me page on the menu and send me an email. Because, everything is for sale at reasonable prices!

December 8, 2020December 8, 2020

Two Acrylic Practice Paintings – Works in Progress

A dreamy view over the beautiful Australian countryside to the distant Mountains m, in the early morning light , one of my acrylic practice paintings. — **The Red Path**

As some of you may know, I am following an online course on painting at the moment. And I’d like to show you two of my acrylic practice paintings. In fact, the painting above is almost completely finished and I decided to leave it a while. To be honest, I am learning such a lot on this course. And I want to think a bit more about the techniques and design ideas I now know about. Then, later I will bring the painting to completion. However, I am fairly pleased with the stage I have brought it to. Incidentally, this method of working is quite new to me. Actually, I usually work in a more impulsive manner, but I do always put a lot of thought into my paintings.

New Techniques and Design Ideas in my Practice Paintings

In this painting, I used a different choice of colours on the palette, following the instruction given. And, this took me right out of my comfort zone, which can be a good thing! But, as you can see, these were the right choices for this dreamy Australian landscape. Secondly, I attempted to blend the colours in the sky – again something I never try to do. Admittedly, I need to practise this more, but then, hopefully, I will have acquired a new skill.

The Tribute to Monet Acrylic Painting

A spectacular deep lily pond with pink and white blossoms - one of my acrylic practice paintings. — **The Lily Pond**

Again, I must make it clear that this one of my acrylic practice paintings just lacks the final finishing touches. And , I’m prepared to leave it a while before I decide how much extra detail to add, if any. As you can see, there were plenty of challenges in this. Including, naturally, the subject – reflections on still water, a subject I have skillfully avoided until now! Well, I did do my best, but there’s room for improvement. On the other hand, I managed to suggest perspective in the floating flowers and leaves. That is, to put it simply, the furthest ones smaller and the nearest ones bigger and all at the correct angle to suggest they are lying on the water. Baby steps I know, but it’s very valuable to a self taught artist like me ! I really can’t wait to see what else I can learn. If you want to see a painting that I completed with the tutor’s help, see this post here . I will post another update soon!

October 20, 2020October 20, 2020

Floating on Air – an Acrylic Painting

A peaceful scene , beautiful white flower-like shapes floating on air in a warm, pink sky. — **Floating on Air**

Hello everyone. I finished this acrylic painting quite recently. But I had started it a few weeks ago . And I had begun seeing pictures in my mind a little while before that. Pictures of things floating on air – first of all fluffy, cold snowflakes drifting down from a peaceful , warm sky . Then I visualized white flowers or petals slowly sinking on to a dry, dark landscape. To be honest, the inspiration for this idea was easy to see. Because every time I look out of my kitchen window, I see glorious, blooming begonia flowers in the windowbox. Actually I was inspired earlier by my flowers in another planting arrangement here – a painting in a very different mood.

Blooming Begonias

As you can see, these beautiful flowers with their delicate layers of petals are very appealing. However, when I picked up my paintbrush, I had decided on the main idea of something white , drifting down. Also, I was clear that that I wanted a subtle pink sky above a grey expanse – perhaps landscape or rolling waves ? After all, that’s the image that came to me. But, I kept seeing snowflakes or clouds, balloons or parachutes. And that’s what took me so much time to plan this painting. Well, a long time for me anyway.

The Close Ups

I hope that I managed to capture the light, drifting quality of these white objects. In effect, I was thinking of all of the ideas I had at first. For example, clouds, snowflakes and petals, and so on. Although, obviously, the actual form they took was the shape of flowers.

A Flower Floating on Air

A close up of a flower with ruffled, layered petals , floating on air. — **White on White**

As it happens, the actual painting of the white flower shape was quite difficult. In order to give it some idea of form, I had to introduce other colours to suggest the layers of ‘ petals ‘. Hopefully, you can see this in the detail above. Well, I tried ! But , I don’t think this particular inspiration has finished with me yet. And, I might have to work with it again !

September 19, 2020September 21, 2020

Magazine Article about my paintings

At last – I’m famous ! (Well , nearly ). Because there is now a magazine article showing my artworks. To explain, I am a member of the Barnsley U3A group. And this is a great , world wide organisation which is run entirely by volunteers of retirement age . In fact, we are called the University of the 3rd Age . Perhaps you have heard of us – our aim is learning, companionship and fun ! The group in my home town is fantastic . So when Derek , editor of our branch’s magazine asked permission to publish some of my paintings I quickly agreed !

To be honest, Derek had seen my work on this website, which is nice. Hopefully, you can read the text as it is a bit small. There are just over a thousand members in the group now , I think. And our magazine ‘ The Buzz ‘ is also published on our website see here .

Watercolour Flowers from my Allotment

A bright bunch of watercolour flowers in a small, glass vase — **Watercolour Flowers from my Allotment**

When I want to do a quick painting I will often sit down at my dining table to work . Of course, if I have a large chunk of spare time, I go into my ‘ studio ‘ . To be honest, this is also known as the spare bedroom and it’s where my easel is set up. And , this is where the acrylic paints live. So it’s all a tiny bit more serious ! Anyway , I had half an hour – so I gave myself a little treat and just painted. I chose watercolour flowers from my allotment. Actually, I had noticed last Thursday that I wasn’t achieving the results I wanted with watercolour . I was out urban sketching with art buddies in the park – see here . And when I looked at my friend’s lovely delicate sketch of the mansion, I realised I could do better !

Trying different watercolour paper

You see, I always use the same brand of paper in different , handy sized sketchbooks when I’m out plein air painting. In effect, I was well satisfied with the quality. But, things had changed and the paper was now quite poor. And , it took me a while to notice ! So, out came some better watercolour paper from the stash. And , now I could try laying down pools of colour and wet in wet technique without fighting to drag the paint over the paper !

More Watercolour Flowers

Sweetpeas and other watercolour flowers in a pretty china cup. — **Allotment Bunch**

As you can see , I did manage to find some decent paper for these two paintings of watercolour flowers. These are from a little while ago and , quite by chance it would seem, the paper was better ! Well, now I know and I won’t make that mistake again !

**Watercolour Flowers from my Allotment**

For those who like to know , here we have cosmos, sweetpeas, marigold, cerinthe and sweet Williams. A real cottage garden bunch. For lots more flowers in all kinds of media , see my gallery here .

August 21, 2020October 19, 2020

Flowers in the Rain – Acrylic Painting

A huge bright yellow bloom crowded up against three purple pansies . The colours really glow in the wet weather - flowers in the rain .

This is just a quick post to show you my latest acrylic semi – abstract painting . You might remember that I have recently ‘ gone large ‘ . That means that I have started painting on bigger canvases and sheets of paper . In fact , this composition Flowers in the Rain is 16 by 20 inches on good watercolour paper

Going Large with Flowers in the Rain

You might think that this isn’t very large . But , you see I felt sort of blocked earlier on this year with all the worrying things that were happening. So now , I feel a bit more relaxed and I am revelling in using paint freely on bigger supports . And , I do hope you can see that joyfulness in this flower picture.

**Flowers in the Rain – a close up of the beautiful yellow begonia .**

Interestingly , I was fascinated by the soft , folded petals of the large bloom that I indicated here . In fact , I got so carried away with painting it , that it grew larger and larger !

**Flowers in the Rain – detail of a deep purple pansy glistening in the rain .**

To tell the truth , my main inspiration for this piece was the way that the drizzle intensified the colours . The leaves and flowers in the rain were sparkling with light ! I even allowed this to spread onto the fence panels in the background. Of course, they were really a dullish brown . If you want to see some more paintings of lovely flowers, just go to my gallery here .

All my paintings are for sale at reasonable prices. I’m selling this painting for £50 , including shipping in the UK . It’s 16 by 20 inches ( which is not too big , or too small ) . The piece is unframed , so you can choose your own frame . And I think that most people prefer this . If it really calls out you and you need to have it , just send me an email by using the form on the contact page

August 15, 2020September 19, 2020

Virtual Exhibition of New Work

This is my latest acrylic intuitive abstract and it’s on show in my virtual exhibition on Artsteps . It was put together for me by my great friend Matt Butt of Rotherham Roar artists , a wonderful artists collective that I belong to . And this acrylic painting on paper is my first example of working in a larger format for a long while . To tell you the truth , I don’t think I shall ever go smaller now !

Flower Paintings in my Virtual Exhibition

A close up acrylic painting on canvas. Cone flowers - red against green foliage . In my virtual exhibition — **Cone Flowers**

I painted this canvas as the last of a set of four – you’ll get the full set in the virtual exhibition, together with Sunflower, Oriental Poppy and SeaThistle . Look for the link at the bottom of this page to see my show. This fantastic app ‘Artsteps’ allows you to create your own exhibition in a virtual gallery . And then you can ‘ walk ‘ around using the arrow keys .

An intuitive abstract suggesting flight and release - blue shapes floating across a pale yellow sky. Part of my virtual exhibition — **Free Spirit**

The Progress of Mankind

You’ll also see the last part of my triptych ‘ The Progress of Mankind ‘ – the painting above which I called ‘ Free Spirit ‘ . The other two parts (One and Two) are on show in the virtual exhibition and they really look good hanging together in the gallery . To tell you the truth , that’s the first time I’ve seen them together and it’s amazing what a sense of satisfaction I got from ‘ seeing ‘ them hanging on the wall online . Just imagine , I would never taken up this opportunity of displaying artwork online if not for the pandemic ! And you can also read my post all about this triptych here .

Lockdown Art in my Virtual Exhibition

To finish off this little review , I will include a watercolour and pencil mixed media piece . Well , this came about as a result of watching birds in my garden during early Lockdown. The pigeon continued strutting around as if nothing was amiss . Strangely , this made me feel a lot more optimistic at the time.

Although you can’t visit my show in person , at least you can see my work laid out virtually this way . If you follow this link here , you can see my exhibition. Use the arrow keys or WSAD keys to navigate around . Click on any picture to get a close up and better lighting . Anyway , there are twenty paintings to see and it’s great fun virtually walking around the gallery. This works best on a PC rather than a phone or tablet , unfortunately . All my paintings are available to buy at reasonable prices . So just send me an email using the form on the Contact Me page , if you want to know more.

August 11, 2020September 19, 2020

Painting Plants At the Allotment

An abstract composition suggesting a tangle of vegetation in a wood. Mixed media. — **Among the Trees**

We have been working very hard in the garden for a few weeks now . The summer season is in full swing and the crops are growing furiously in this weather . The glorious sunshine and lots of rain have certainly helped ! There’s lots of inspiration for painting plants.

Taking a Break – Painting Plants

I don’t often find time to take a break when we are up at the allotment . There are always so many chores to do at this time of year . But , I couldn’t resist it any longer and I just had to draw the tangle of leaves and flowers twining their way up the garden canes ! As you can see in the sketch above , I did a working sketch of the runner beans . To explain , the sketch is a quick record of the scene – about twenty minutes. And it is intended as a reference for me to use later when I have time to do a larger painting.

My Notes on Painting Plants

Hopefully , you can read the notes that I scribbled on my drawing here . They are just reminders of the colours for when I paint the bigger picture . I do also take one or two photos , but the memory of actually drawing this first will be more useful to me . I did observe the shapes of the leaves and flowers quite carefully too .

Tangled vegetation

Painting Plants - a window box crammed full of polyanthus flowers - yellow, purple and green . Abstract composition — **Spring Flowers**

I have been quite fascinated by tangled leaves and flowers for a couple of years now . In this mixed media painting of flowers in a windowbox above , I tried to show the crowding of the plants in a small space . And the painting at the top of the page is my impression of how I felt after a walk in a wood in early summer last year. There was a real jungle of growth and I just had to spend some time painting plants . So much inspiration and so little time ! ( see more abstract flower paintings here )

Watercolour and pencil work showing a runner bean plant with scarlet flowers -painting plants . — **Runner Beans in Colour**

I took ten minutes later on in the day to add some watercolour to my runner beans . To be honest , I haven’t decided yet whether to turn this into a semi abstracted composition or a design . Stay tuned to find out !

August 4, 2020September 16, 2020

Abstract Flower Painting in Summer

A very large pink and red abstract flower painting, slightly abstracted in style , surrounded by relief prints of leaves in purple and olive green. — **Big Pink Abstract Flower**

Last week I was inspired by the combinations of colours that I saw in the summer flowers I was planting in our window boxes . Pink and red caught my eye and I worked with these to create an abstract flower painting . I had been talking to a friend online about simple printing . So I had a go at relief printing some leaves . I used the easiest , non-tech method ! After coating the back of the leaf with acrylic paint , I pressed it gently on to the painting , using a sheet of clean paper to protect everything from my painty fingers . Then I experimented with the amount of paint I used and the pressure I applied to get different effects . I also made a second print with the same painted leaf and the resulting print has quite a faint , dreamy quality that is very pleasing . The possibilities are endless ! I quite liked the result .

You might have seen this mixed media piece earlier on in the year. I just loved the colours of the Spring flowers back in April or May .For this abstract flower painting I used watercolour , pen and coloured pencil.

Another Abstract Flower Painting

This watercolour painting is one of my own favourites , Sweetpeas from the Allotment. I liked it so much that I chose it for the poster to advertise my solo exhibition back in January at the Skelmanthorpe Gallery in West Yorkshire. You can read all about it in this post here .

Abstract flower painting of sweetpeas in pink , purple and green — **Sweetpeas from the Allotment**

Actually , I have realized just recently that I prefer doing an abstract flower painting now , rather than in realistic style . So , watch this space for more experiments !

All my paintings are available to buy at reasonable prices . For more information , go to the contact page and use the form to send me an email .

May 15, 2020September 16, 2020

Colourful Flowers in Mixed Media

Colourful Flowers in Watercolour and Collage

Six large colourful flowers floating in a blue sky painted in watercolour, oil pastel and pen -flowers in mixed media — **Bursting with Colour**

I was quite pleased with this colourful flowers in mixed media piece that I did in my art journal – I used pen ,watercolour , oil pastel, pencil and collage. It was inspired by the beauty of the Spring flowers and colours I could see all around me . I also tried to pay attention to the shape of the design too – a first for me . It cheers me up when I look at it . I hope you like it too !

You’ll find more paintings of flowers in my Gallery ( Still Life and Flowers) here

May 9, 2020September 18, 2020

Springtime in Yorkshire

My Favourite Spring Flowers – Acrylic Paintings

An impressionist style scene showing a figure hoeing a row of vegetables in an allotment garden .Acrylic . — **Daffs at the Allotment** – **Acrylic on paper 16 x 12 inches**

This acrylic painting , along with the other two I will show you, were chosen to be on display in a ‘Springtime in Yorkshire ‘ exhibition . And , this would have taken place at Skelmanthorpe Gallery featuring local artists ,in the month of April . But , of course , the exhibition was cancelled due to social isolation . This painting shows a sweet view of my allotment, complete with gardener and a row of daffodils , my favourite spring flowers .

I’ve just started working in the veg garden (a little bit late I know ) . For example , today I sowed rocket and radish seeds . Then I picked a stir fry of little shoots and things for dinner.

A clearing in a wood in morning sunshine lighting up patches of beautiful bluebells. Colourful , acrylic painting of springtime in Yorkshire — **Bluebell Wood** – **Acrylic on paper 16 x 12 inches – springtime in Yorkshire**

This painting was proving to be quite popular with my art friends and supporters and would have been for sale . But, they didn’t get to see it , nicely framed and in a gallery setting.

It’s bluebell time at the moment here in Yorkshire, UK . Of course , this makes all the little pieces of woodland around us shimmer with that heavenly blue. So perfect for a vibrant , colourful painting .

Spring Flowers in the Big Rockery – Springtime in Yorkshire

A dreamy scene of a figure walking past a rockery composed of huge rocks and some small patches of snowdrops . Atmospheric , acrylic painting for the Spring Time in Yorkshire exhibition. — **Snowdrops in the Big Rockery** – **Acrylic on paper 16 x 12 inches**

I must confess , Snowdrops in the Big Rockery is one of my favourite paintings .Probably because we often go walking in the grounds and park at Wentworth Castle Gardens and I love the place . So this painting shows the very end of winter and the beginning of spring last year. If you look carefully, you can see small clumps of snowdrop flowers, shining in the low light of late afternoon. If you would like to see more of my flower paintings , look here .

I was really looking forward to seeing all the original artwork from my fellow artists for this exhibition – Springtime in Yorkshire. Alas , it didn’t happen , but , maybe next year ! I hope that you enjoyed my exhibition review .

March 10, 2020September 16, 2020

Purple Flowers in Acrylic

Acrylic on Canvas – Purple Flowers

A close up of beautiful purple flowers against a background of vibrant green leaves — **Purple Flowers in Acrylic**

I just finished the fourth in my flowers in acrylic on small canvases – so I can’t call it a triptych anymore ! Do you know , I always find such a lot of inspiration in flowers . And I think that these purple flowers are some kind of ornamental thistle . Anyway , I’ve just bought three 8 by 8 inch canvases so I can paint some more . Happy Days !

See ” Floral Art – a Triptych “ here to see the other three pictures.

February 1, 2020September 16, 2020

Three Flower Paintings – a Triptych in Acrylic

Three Flower Paintings on Small Canvas – a Triptych

Three small canvases showing three flower paintings - sunflower, poppy and echinacea. — **Three Flowers – a Triptych**

What’s a triptych ? Basically , it’s a group of three paintings shown together and sharing aspects of subject matter , colour or style – or all three ! In fact , just like these three flower paintings. Originally, I think it described three paintings usually above or on the altar in churches. Actually , it’s a really popular way of presenting artwork at the moment in galleries . And some artists are very creative in the way the pieces are linked together .

Anyway , this is my version of a triptych disguised as floral art. In fact , I had to come up with something for an art group I belong to and I was a bit stuck. Then I remembered that I had decided to paint a series of flower paintings in acrylic on small canvases a while ago . However, life got in the way and I had only completed two, Sunflower and Oriental Poppy.

So , I decided to paint one more – for the art group theme , a triptych of flowers. That is , three flower paintings. This is Cone Flowers.

A close up of ' Cone flowers ' , one of my three flower paintings . Red petals and green leaves.

Easy ! One triptych delivered .

Flowers from My Gallery

I must just mention that I have entered ‘Bluebells’ ( and two other paintings) for an open call for an exhibition. Luckily , Bluebells was accepted ( hurray ! ) .And to my delight, chosen for the publicity image – two reasons to be cheerful, I think !

A sea of bluebells in a wood with the sunlight streaming through , a traditional landscape painting — **Bluebells in Silkstone Woods**

I must admit , I do love painting flowers. And , if you would like to see more , there’s loads more in my Gallery – ‘Still Life and Flowers’ here

Flowers and foliage in a vase - impressionist flower painting. — **A Bunch from the Allotment**

So, to finish up with, here’s my favourite – going to a new home when my solo exhibition finishes today ( the image at the bottom of the page )

Well, there are all kinds of floral art – on canvas, on paper , in vases , in a landscape , as a triptych or stand alone .And , I wonder which kind you like best ? Or , do you like them all , like me .

Category: Flower Paintings