Poppies : Jean Haines Daniel Smith Shimmer Sets 2019

Jean Haines Daniel Smith Shimmer Sets

Can life get any more exciting? Or painting? 

Yes it can!

I am thrilled to have two new sets of Daniel Smith Watercolours about to be launched and one is a shimmer set. This collection really does include some of my favourite iridescent and shimmering shades. Some I have shared previously on my blog. Some I use in subtle ways adding exciting sheen to my work that sometimes aren't easy to spot but I love it when I am asked " How did you achieve that effect?".

The following painting as seen below is a perfect example.

At the moment I have very delicate pale purple poppies growing in our cottage garden. They self seed each year and spring up absolutely everywhere. I have learnt to enjoy then rather than pull them out. After all they are nature working in the garden breaking up any idea of our flower borders being looking manicured!

I started this piece by painting the purple section of the poppies. I then added a mix of green below the flower heads, placing cling film on top to form crinkle paterns for the leaves. Next I worked the negative edge of the top of the flowers. 

Next I added poppy buds and a seed head. Stems too started to appear. And this was where I could have stopped colour wise. But I selected a few of my shimmer set shades. Iridescent Ruby and Iridescent Topaz to pump up the drama in a subtle way. The sheen on my silky petals looks glorious now. You may notice subtle use of Iridescent Electric Blue too, a colour I adore!

Dancing Poppies

These shades from my shimmer set work so well adding magic when combined with other colours. They give a form of light and life to a painting that is unusual, which suits me perfectly. To be honest, I love having little tricks to bring my paintings to life and its' ideal to have sets available so that others can experiment too.

 

Iridescent Ruby and Iridescent Topaz

Shimmer shades from my new Daniel Smith Shimmer sets

Below you can see my easel  To the left is a small study just created for me to try colour ideas. To the right the painting I created whilst sat in my garden looking at the real thing. I prefer painting from life as you learn so much from how light plays and interacts on a subject rather than by working from photographs constantly.

My easel with my poppy studies , small and large. These give me ideas for techniques to be used in a later more serious painting, colour combinations and composition flow.

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Artists Tip for the Day

Try hard not to only paint from photographs. Painting from life in natural light gives you far more information on colours to use, you can observe colours interacting,see genuine light and shadow. So much detail that you can miss when painting a flat image as seen in a photo. Look for something as a subject that draws you in to paint it and have a go no matter what it is. 

And of course. Have fun!

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