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How to Paint Sunflowers . . . again

February 21, 2011 By Colleen Jorgenson 4 Comments

Mural Maker & More

Well, I did it. I signed up to teach classes again – after a 7 year hiatus – at the local Parks & Rec department.

Seems like a good idea, right? I mean, why not?

Because I tend to always overbook myself. Right now, after packing and getting the new/old house ready, I’m not feeling too energetic. But I have 2 months to get ready.

The first flowers we’ll paint in Indoor Garden Painting are Sunflowers.

I’ve painted a few before. I’ve even done a tutorial before. But I needed a sample for the Parks & Rec office.

So here ya go . . . How to paint Sunflowers, again!

Mural Maker & More

I used six paint colors by Plaid.

  • Burnt Umber
  • Turner’s Yellow
  • Raw Sienna
  • Daffodil Yellow
  • Hauser Green Medium
  • Hauser Green Dark

You can get by with these, but if you want a little extra detailing, get out the FolkArt Floating Medium.

102_4398

Brushes = #12 flat, #6 flat, and a liner.

I don’t think a pattern is needed, but I know a lot of people ‘feel’ like the need one.

I’ll do one. I promise.

Later.

Possibly today, even!

If you haven’t used one of my painting tutorials, let me tell you a bit about my method. It’s based upon layers. You don’t need to know how to paint. You don’t need to use specific brushstrokes, or even special brushes. The layering of paint will camouflage any blips you don’t like.

Layering is quick and simple. It’s nearly foolproof. Really! I’ve taught this method to hundreds, maybe thousands, of people and I’ve never had anyone not come out with a beautiful painting.

If you try it and have any trouble at all, please email me and I’ll be happy to give you any additional guidance.

Step 1 – paint Burnt Umber centers. You won’t need 2 coats if you use Plaid’s Apple Barrel.

102_4374

Step 2 – Use Turner’s Yellow to basecoat the petals.

Try not to to make them all symmetrical, balanced, and the same size. Your painting will look much more fun if the petals are catty-whompers (an artiste term, there).

Your petals can be long like bunny ears, or short and squatty. It doesn’t matter. There are tons of sunflower varieties, so just have fun and paint a ton of petals around your Burnt Umber centers.

Notice that I haven’t painted the flowers that will overlap the centers? I want to paint some highlights on the centers first.

102_4375

Step 3 – ‘tighten up’ the centers with Burnt Umber – if you were a little sloppy with the Turner’s Yellow like me.

102_4377

Step 4 – highlight the centers with Raw Sienna with an outer circle and an inner circle.

It’s gonna take a couple of coats. Try a pouncing (dab-dab-dab) motion rather than a standard stroke.

Sunflower centers are full of those little seeds, right? So we want our centers to look like there are a bunch of them without actually having to paint each individual one.

102_4378

Step 5 – highlight the centers with some dabs of Turner’s Yellow. If the Raw Sienna is still damp, that’s okay. The wet-blending will work just fine here.

102_4379

Step 6 – paint another layer of Raw Sienna over the same area as before, topcoating the Turner’s Yellow highlights.

See how the Turner’s Yellow still pops thru?

102_4380

Step 7 – shade the petals with Raw Sienna.

I gave you two options here. The first one in the picture above is just to little curved brushstrokes to give the petals a some depth.

102_4381

The 2nd option is to start at the Burnt Umber center and paint outward with Raw Sienna.

Either one works. Or you could even do a little combination. It’s up to you.

102_4382

Step 8 – highlight the petals with Daffodil Yellow. Apply the highlighting in the center of the petals and a little bit on an edge here and there.

102_4383

Step 9 – topcoat the petals with Turner’s Yellow. Unless you like the way the shading & highlighting looks – then leave this step out.

102_4385

102_4386

Step 10 – Basecoat the ‘folding’ petals with Turner’s Yellow. It’ll take 2-3 coats for the petals folding over the center.

102_4388

102_4389

Step 11 – Shade & highlight the petals as in Steps 7 & 8. Then topcoat with Turner’s Yellow.

Notice how I painted more Raw Sienna shading in between the folding petals and the petals next to them – so the eye can ‘see’ all of the petals.

You might want to leave this shading as is and not topcoat it with Turner’s Yellow. If you do decide to topcoat and ‘lose’ the petals, just add some more Raw Sienna shading.

Stems & Leaves

102_4391

Basecoat with Hauser Green Medium.

102_4392

With Turner’s Yellow (you might still have some on your palette), highlight the stem that will be ‘in front’ of the other stem. Add a curved line to create veins in the middle of each leaf.

102_4393

Shade stems and leaves with Hauser Green Dark. Shade the stem ‘behind’ the front stem. Also shade areas close to sunflower petals.

102_4394

Topcoat stems & leaves with Hauser Green Medium.

You could stop here and have some lovely sunflowers.

Or . . .

102_4395

. . . load some Burnt Umber on your liner brush and dab little dots all around the circles of the centers.

You could call it quits here too.

Or . . .

102_4396

. . . load your brush with Floating Medium, pick up some Raw Sienna on just a corner of your #6 flat and “line” the edges of a few petals.

By using the Medium, you’ll have more “open” time – the paint won’t dry as fast. Plus, the medium makes it really easy to stroke the paint. That’s why I use FolkArt Floating Medium every.single.day.

That’s it! Have fun with these. Even though it’s still winter, painting sunflowers will brighten your day!

Related articles
  • How to paint Daffodils (muralmaker1.blogspot.com)
  • Paperwhite Narcissus Painting Instruction (muralmaker1.blogspot.com)

 

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Filed Under: Highlighting, How To & PIY, PIY, Shading, Techniques

Comments

  1. Nedelka Ombler says

    January 17, 2016 at 3:50 pm

    Thank you very much for this instructions!! I am planning my daughter’s 12th birthday and we will be painting sunflowers!!! This is amazing as I have NEVER before painted anything… we will try it and we ALL will learn!!! Blessings! (From Panama, Central America).

    Reply
  2. Barbara (-Cookie ) says

    August 10, 2018 at 6:50 pm

    I love sunflowers all different kind’s wish my printer work I’m a slow learner lol,Thank’s Honey I appreciate U doing this for us ,,…Thank’s so much

    Reply
    • Colleen says

      October 4, 2018 at 2:15 pm

      Aww, thanks, Cookie! Forgive me for the delay in responding. Life threw a bit of a curve ball but I’m back at it today.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Sunflower Crafts & Recipes: 50+ Sunflower ideas for kids and adults says:
    September 6, 2016 at 11:49 am

    […] Painting Sunflowers – I love the idea of learning to paint sunflowers like these. […]

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    About Me

    Hi there! I'm Colleen, a self-taught artist, writer and blogger, among other things. You don't get to be old enough to order off the Denny's senior menu without accomplishing a few things in life. Read More…

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