Tulip by Josie Young

Photo © Josie Young

"Tulip" by Josie Young. 10x12" (25x30cm). Acrylic on canvas board.

From the Artist: Tulips are one of my favorite flowers, so the choice of flower was easy when purchasing (due to drought we don't have flowers in our garden). I enjoyed painting this bright yellow tulip using complementary purple cloth as a background. Paint was used mainly straight from the tube using long strokes.

From the Painting Guide: I think you've got a lovely sense of the waxy, glossy characteristic of a tulip's petals and the color, so I'm going to be very picky with other aspects of your painting.

Comparing the photos of your set-up and your painting: With the flower as it is in the photo, the leaf it hidden behind the flower, whereas in your painting you've got it curling off to the left. By all means use artistic license to put the leaf where you want it to be, but I would hope you'd do it by turning the flower, observing it from life, and then painting the leaf where you wanted it. I think the leaf wants a little lighter green on it so it stands out from the background a little more. It doesn't have to be much, just a highlight or slight yellowing along an edge perhaps. And what about a little suggestion of shadow behind it? It helps to create a sense of space or depth in a painting.

In the set-up you're looking down onto the tulip, onto the top of it, whereas in your painting the tulip is at eye level and you're seeing a silhouette of the top. This could be due to the tulip dropping with time, and it something to be aware of as you're painting.

Squint at the photo of the flower and notice where there are areas of darker tone in the folds of the petals. If you add these to your painting, it'll increase the sense of 3D. I would do it as a thin glaze using some of your background color.

When setting out a composition on a canvas, keep in mind that if a painting is framed with a style of frame that sits over the edge, you loose a little of the canvas area under the frame. So here the tips of the tulip in painting are perilously close to the top edge.