Paint a Gilded Flower in Acrylics

Things at work had been rough and a couple of colleagues and I were starting to feel the strain of it all. As we were friends as well as colleagues, I invited them over for a painting workshop where we all had great fun painting a simple flower in acrylics. We also used some gold leaf in the centre of the flower to add a bit of sparkle. Enjoy the art lesson with us in today's blog.

We started our project on prepared stretched canvas of 10" x 14".

The canvas was stood up on an easel.

The paintings was done in Acrylics. For the backgrounds we used Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna and Burnt Umber.

The backgrounds were graded in the three colours.

We waited for the paint to dry before drawing the flowers with charcoal.

Do not draw your flower in the centre of your canvas, as the eye finds this boring.

We then used Buff Titanium to paint the petals of the flowers.

Long smooth even brush strokes are needed to paint the petals. Pick up the charcoal on the sides to create shadows. Do not paint the petals too solid. Allow the background to show through.

The completed petals.

We then used Raw Umber in the centres of the flowers.

Simply tap the centre of the flower with the tip of a brush. Do not cover it evenly!

A peek at what my fellow artists were doing.

Action shot!

I also added some Raw Umber on the sides of the petals. One side is more accentuated than the other in each of the petals.

What was happening on the other easels.

And more peeking.

We then added Pearl White to the petals to make it slightly shiny.

I simply touched the Pearl White to the petals. I also added a little Raw Umber to the insides of the petals to create shadows. Then I also touched the centre of my flower with the Pearl White.

We again waited for the paint to dry bedfore sticking gold and copper leaf to the centres of the flowers. I used Tombow Glue for this.

Make glue dots in the centre of the flower.

Wait for the glue to dry to tacky. Cut a piece of copper/gold leaf to the required size.

Press the copper leaf to the glue and pull away quickly.

The copper leaf will stick to the glue dots.

Sign your name to the canvas.

A proud artist made from a first-timer.

Yet another novice turned artist!

My own painting.

All in a day's work.

You can watch a short compilation video of the steps above on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/OwL297Uzp74

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy my books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.
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