Delphiniums

Delphiniums       6" x 6"         Pastel         ©Sheila Ashley Liston
Available $75

DAY 26 of Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge, September 2017

It's always fun to have a good reason to buy fresh flowers!  Delphiniums were always a delight to arrange in my days as a floral designer. They were not as easily available as they are today. I found these at my local supermarket floral department. Painting the subtle color changes was a bit of a challenge in pastels. 

1. I usually choose a darker underpainting, but this time I started with a dark blue on white Premier Pastel paper. 2. This time I chose to wet the pastel a bit to be able to move it around smoothly without getting a build-up of pastel too early. 3. I  chose a very dark blue Sennelier pastel to deepen the darkest values. Then I worked gradually, alternating the adding the subtle colors. All of the blossoms had different amounts of lavendars, blues, and creamy whites.