Poppies Three Ways

There are many ways to approach a painting. Using a poppy as subject I explored three of them. These are all quick sketches, 9 by 12 inches.

The first watercolor is done alla prima, directly painting the subjects as positive shapes. This yields a strong and vivid image that grabs your attention. It doesn't have much of the transparency of traditional watercolors though.

The second painting was done by painting the space around the poppy, using the background to "draw" the flower. This gives a more ethereal and transparent look.

The third painting is a hybrid of the two approaches with the use of underpainting. painted a warm area where the flower would be and used cool colors for the rest of the background. The flower was then defined using negative space and then painted with stronger colors.

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