A Modern Sunflower

Other Supplies

10” x 10” Wood canvas panel, Brush basin or container for water, Paper towels, Foam plate for palette, 2” Foam roller, 3/4” Flat brush, No. 12 flat brush, No. 1 liner brush, Stencil tape, White chalk

Instructions

1. Paint entire canvas panel Engine Red and allow to dry.
2. Squeeze a paint puddle of both Engine Red and Berry Wine onto a foam plate.
3. Load foam roller with graduated color keeping Engine Red on one side of the roller and Berry Wine on the opposite side.
4. Roll on palette to blend the paint colors on the roller.
5. Begin rolling Berry Wine on the left side of the canvas directly over the Engine Red basecoat.
6. Slightly roll toward the right side of the canvas blending the Berry Wine into the Engine Red basecoat stopping before half the canvas width.
7. To create the highlight side of the canvas, clean the roller, dry it and reload it with Pure Orange and Engine Red.
8. Paint the highlight side of the canvas keeping the Pure Orange to the right. Allow to dry.
9. Either lightly sketch the sunflower patterns or trace and transfer using white chalk.
10. Using stencil tape, position tape along the straight lines of the border. Press in place.
11. Paint Cobalt Blue within the taped areas using a large flat brush. Allow to dry and reapply Cobalt Blue to create an opaque border.
12. When painted border is dry, carefully lift to remove the stencil tape.
13. Basecoat Sunflower petal shape with Daffodil Yellow using a large flat brush. Allow to dry and reapply to create an opaque yellow base.
14. Basecoat leaf shape with Thicket. Allow to dry.
15. Load large flat brush with Blending Gel. Paint a light application of Blending Gel at the edges of the leaves by stroking from the edge down towards the center of the leaf.
16. Quickly load the large flat brush with Citrus Green and retrace the same brush strokes. Touch, pull and quickly lift the flat brush loaded with Citrus Green repeating the same stroke beginning at the leaf edge stroking towards the center of the leaf.
17. If desired, trace and transfer the petal shapes or lightly pencil them on the basecoated Daffodil Yellow.
18. Load the No. 12 Flat brush with Yellow Ochre and paint the petals . Continue painting all the sunflower petals.
19. Add a touch of Bark Brown to the base of each Yellow Ochre petal shape. Side load the No. 12 Flat brush with Bark Brown. Keeping the Bark Brown closest to the sunflower center, pat to blend the brown at the base of each Yellow Ochre petal.
20. Load the No. 1 Liner brush with thinned Bark Brown and paint a long comma stroke on either side of the Yellow Ochre petals .
21. Apply a medium to thick application of Bark Brown and Licorice to the sunflower center creating texture as you apply the paint.
22. Using the No. 1 Liner brush, paint several tiny polka dots around the entire sunflower center. Paint Citrus Green, Pure Orange, Yellow Ochre, Bark Brown and a few Licorice polka dots.
23. While the sunflower center is still wet, paint a highlight by patting Wicker White on the upper right area of the flower center.
24. Repeat to paint the second sunflower.
25. Lastly, paint an accent to the modern sunflower canvas. Load the No. 1 Liner brush with thinned Bark Brown and paint curlicues. Keep your brush held straight up so that the tip (only) is touching the surface; slowly and smoothly move your hand creating a loop de loop effect trailing off as you lift the brush.