The background color on the right started to feel a bit too thin – not really contributing anything fun to the overall painting. So, I added some thicker paint and texture to it. Not too thick – I didn’t want it to draw attention away from the main attraction – but enough to add some more pizazz to the painting.
How to Paint a Rose in Oil
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Class Description
In this class we will paint a rose in a modern style by “zooming in” on the petals
During the class you will learn:
1) How to shade petals
2) How to create depth and distance between the petals
3) How to ensure your colours remain vibrant
4) and much more.
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Besides my previous review, Nolan was excellent in explaining each process he took and why. The tutorial is easy to follow.
Annalisa Agresta
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The Reference Photo and Painting #1
I discovered these roses outside the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. The Smithsonian has fabulous flowers all around the museum grounds.
White roses outside the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC
The first time I used this photo for a painting was about 10 years ago. I really liked the painting when it was finished, and considering how quickly it sold so did my collectors.
Sincere Desire 16×20 – oil painting by Bill Inman
That was done before I started filming my paintings to share with our community. I thought it would be a valuable lesson for our members to have access to so I painted another version.
Making copies of previous paintings, or using an image twice, is something I rarely do (like, maybe 5 or 6 times in 30 years). Most of the revisits were because a collector saw the previous painting and commissioned me to do another. On those occasions, I generally change something so they don’t look exactly alike.
That was what I did this time as well.
The reversed and tweaked white roses image using Photoshop
Since I had a beautiful 11×16 22kt gold frame from Masterworks Frames, the first thing I did was change the image’s proportions to match. Photoshop is a fantastic tool for rearranging and experimenting.
Then I reversed the image.
You probably noticed in the reference photo that the roses behind the main large flower are all in a straight line. How does that happen in real life?
Using the Lasso and copy/paste tools in Photoshop I changed the positions of a couple of roses. After tweaking the color a bit I called it good so I could get started painting – doing what I really love! I knew there were design problems still, but I figured I would work it out later in the painting.
Here is the finished version of the new white roses painting:
Delicate Strength 11×16 – oil painting of white roses by Bill Inman
Now for the seven steps I chose to share when painting these roses.
7 Steps to Painting Delicate White Roses
Rather than start with a single color to tone the panel, I decided to work the background shadow values around the approximate shapes of the flowers.
Since there was so much green in the reference image, I chose transparent oxide red as an underlayer. The reddish tones are a wonderful complement for the green leaves.
Notice that I wasn’t worried about drawing everything out first to get the exact shape of the roses. I prefer to lay-in large brush strokes and color shapes and then carve into the shapes to form the flowers.
When I start with detailed drawings, I end up with lifeless plants because I am too focused on painting within the lines. If I draw it out too carefully, I seem to focus on the ‘things’ in the image, rather than the positive and negative shapes, and the edges become harder and less natural.
Also, if I concentrate on basic shapes then it’s easy to move things around if I don’t like the initial composition I’m not as invested.
You can see a cut up credit card in the photo. I love texture in paintings and experimented a bit with a few tools to rough up the background paint. Even in the beginning stages, I will play a lot with brush strokes and texture since those background effects will often show through in the completed painting.
Step 2
The flower shapes were left blank on purpose. With the white of the panel, we can get a more translucent quality in the colors because light bounces off the white and brightens the colors a bit. Now, I realize that much of the panel is going to be covered by opaque paint, but some of it will not and that is where the thinner layers of paint benefit from the white underneath.
At this stage, I try to establish the light and dark values in the roses right off while keeping the center colors clean and bright.
I also begin with a middle-value layer that I can later add highlights to. That will help me capture subtle transitions in the petals’ values from shadows to highlights. I do the same thing with the leaves, only I use much darker middle values than I did for the roses.
The spots of reddish-brown background color were left intentionally to create the feeling of distance in the painting and to take advantage of the wonderful red/green harmony.
