Spring Jonquils

Spring Jonquils

25x32cm oil pastel on black somerset velvet paper.









The Floral and Botanicals forum of wetcanvas.com January challenge was to paint white flowers. One of the supplied references was a lovely photo of some white jonquils which I couldn't resist. Painting white flowers is quite a challenge for me as I find it extremely hard to get the right balance of white and shadows.
I have started painting in oil pastels instead of the soft pastels to avoid the dust created with the soft pastels. They act totally different to soft pastels and using them is a whole new experience. I really enjoy using them although I consider myself a newbie with them. 



This is my stage 1 where I block in the highlights and shadows with warm and cool colours.







This is stage 2 where I start changing the colours to look 'real'.

This is stage 3 where I look for the different light and dark planes in each block of colour and start the layering process to give a more 3D effect. I am using creams and whites for the highlights and blues and purples for the shadow areas. The flowers are starting to come alive now.


 Stage 4 is more layering, I go over some of the highlights with yellow covering that with more white. I also blend some areas to achieve a smoother change from the highlights to the shadows. After leaving the oil pastel to set for a couple of days, I then look at the painting to assess if there are any final changes needed. I changed the angle of a couple of the petals and layered more whites and blue in the shadows. Overall, I was quite pleased with the result.