Peony Painting Season

Peony season is all too short - and the blooms don’t last long, either! To paint the flowers from life, I keep the un-opened buds in my fridge, and each painting day I only take out the blooms I plan to paint that day.

Quick under painting of lead white mixed with umber, painted very thin so I can paint over it while it’s still wet.

I let the cold flowers warm up on my still life shelf while I set up my paints, and as soon as they have opened enough to look interesting, I start painting as fast (but as carefully!) as I can.

I start with painting middle-values, putting down large, blurry shapes, so the mid-tones are full of color even when I add lights and darks on top.

The next few hours require intense focus, because the flowers continue to open, and by the end of the session they have sometimes bloomed so wide they are nearly inside-out.

Once the middle values and basic shapes are established I often put a dab of pure white, and also add a couple darks, so the full value range is in my view. This helps me calibrate my value decisions as I get into the details.

Painting peonies can feel like painting a slow-motion explosion, but if I rush too much the wet paint starts to fight with me, so I have to paint steadily but not quickly.

Starting with one bloom, I start to refine the petals and smaller shapes by adding light and dark marks to my mid-tone base. I can lay the new paint down like frosting so it doesn’t mix with the base layer, or I can press a bit harder to purposely pick up some of the wet color and mix it with the paint on my brush.

As the painting develops, it can feel more and more frustrating, or it can feel like the painting is painting itself, almost “falling off the brush”. When a painting session is frustrating, usually it means something is interrupting my focus.

As best I can, I try to “finish as I go”. It’s possible to go back over very wet paint make some corrections, but I find that if I go over one spot to correct it too many times, the paint starts over-mixing, and the edges are harder to control.

If I can stay relaxed and in tune with my subject, and not too worried about the paint itself, there is a moment when I can feel it coming to life.

The finished painting, oil on panel, 12 x 16 inches. Available in my current art sale.

I only felt able to attempt a full bouquet after several days in a row making smaller studies of just one or two blooms. It can take 4 or 5 days in a row of painting a flower to feel at all like I am starting to get an understanding of how to paint them.

And once peony season is over, I have to wait a whole year to try them again!

Luckily, however, roses are available year-round…..

I currently have a series of floral paintings for sale. To be notified first when I post new paintings for sale, sign up for a free account on my Substack: sadievaleri.substack.com

I teach a complete drawing and painting program online. Start with 3 free drawing lessons here.