Painting Coreopsis

Hummingbirds are also flying through on their migration south to Mexico. Jack counted a dozen circling and feeding at the four stations we have around the back courtyard. I tried to get a picture of several at once but this little guy kept chasing all the other hummingbirds away. No matter what feeder I went to he would chase everyone off. We have four feeders and he was trying to protect all of them. I guess he knew I was taking pictures and wanted to be the Star. Or maybe he just wants the food all for himself!

Michele had seen some Coreopsis in another piece I had done and asked if I could replace the Geraniums in the sketch with some of the cheery, yellow flowers. No Problem! These are such fun to paint. The mixes for the Coreopsis blossoms range from Cadmium Yellow Medium + Cadmium Orange to Cadmium Yellow Medium to Cadmium Yellow Medium + Hansa Lemon Yellow.

Next the foliage is worked around the yellow of the flowers. A soft, sage green is made from various combinations of Pthalo Blue + Cadmium Orange + White. The flat side of the Bright brush is used to block in the large areas of color, the corner makes the details of the leaves.

After drawing in the stems with a fine liner brush, the highlights on the flowers are painted. Using a #2 filbert the paint is “laid” on the canvas, taking care to not pull up any of the color underneath. I like to add the light on the individual petals with really thick paint, giving the blossoms a lot of texture.

The centers of the Coreopsis are added with the same brush used for the highlights.

And……speaking of Coreopsis I thought you would enjoy seeing a field of them near our studio. Some Texas Bluebonnets are mixed in. This photo was taken in 2010 when we had the most spectacular spring wildflowers. Because of the drought this year we hardly had any spring flowers. But I have some GOOD NEWS to share, we had another 3/4″ of rain last night. I think our fish are safe for awhile! Hugs, Mikki

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