This is how...

I got some comments and emails in regards to my post of the Queen Anne Lace painting I'm (still)working on, and I'm more than happy to tell you how I paint this way.  And thank you so much for all your words and questions, love reading them all...  One of the questions was "how do I put the outlines in and what colours do I use".  I paint most of these is acrylics, and its all about layers...  In short, I never end up with what I intended in the beginning.

First of all, I never use black, I know they come out looking black in pictures, but they are almost always in very dark blues, or grey.  I mix my own blacks, from mixing blues with browns, and it all depends on what kind of dark grey or blackish colour I want.  There is only one place I use black and that's when I paint the sides of my canvases.

The first step is for my paintings is that I paint on a back ground in a colour (reds, greens or any other colour), and I like to work with a acrylic paint that has dried up a bit, this gives the paint a nice texture on the canvas (as acrylic paint tend to stay flat other wise or without any other extras in it).  Then I again paint another layer (lighter or darker of same colour or something in that same side of the colour wheel, I hope that makes sense).  When I'm happy with the back ground, I then rough sketch (paint) my subject in again a dark blue, green or other colour.  Then I start to work on yet another back ground, now kind of softening the lines I sketched in.  This back ground colour is different from the previous colour, so it has contrast (and I let some show through).
 

After I'm happy with the back ground, I start to work on the main lines of the object (and in this case its the dried up flower head of Queen Anne Lace).  And I keep going on back and forth until I'm happy with it.  Here below you can see more of the back ground colour and the out lines (you can see there is different colours, red, orange and brows, all coming through the blues, teals and creams on top).

And here's another photo of Queen Anne Lace, and its again in the dry winter stage. 
See, Queen Anne Lace is a beautiful delicate white flower in the summer, and it really does look like lace.  And I had questions about the flower I had posted, how could this be that flower (it looks nothing like it does on line if you look it up).  But I live in Canada and like in most Northern snowy lands like Canada.  This flower looks wonderful, white and delicate in the summer months.  But when fall and winter hits, the flower dies down and only the dry seed pods are left.  I find the dried up flower (and so many other seed pods and plants) in winter looks as beautiful, different, yet very beautiful. 

Dan from Dan's Canvas read my post and he used the picture I had left for anyone to use (I wanted to see if anyone else would like to draw or paint it, would be fun to see). 
And Dan did and he drew from the picture.  And he did a fantastic piece and I think he did it in watercolours, check out his link, he's a great artist from Florida (no snow there : ) 
There is a legend behind the name of this flower, and I think its really sweet and I love hearing and learning about these things.  The story behind this one is, of Queen Anne who was very good at needle work and she created beautiful lace.  One time Queen Anne was working on her lace, she pricked her finger with the needle and a small drop of blood fell on the lace.  See, if you look very closely in the centre of all the white flowers, you can find one very tinny single flower that is red (some are darker than others, some even so dark red it looks like its black) and that's her drop of blood. This is the story behind Queen Anne Lace. And so I leave you with that and with this picture below, little different from what I posted last.  But its for you, if you wish you create one of your own, or just enjoy the picture.

Enjoy!!  And try not spill any blood while creating... 


Dried Queen Anne Lace flower, Free image



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