From the Artist: I love painting sunflowers. When you first bring them home they are nice and geometric and after a few days the petals become loose and irregular like they are wind blown. There are so many different types of sunflowers and I like their boldness. I don't get tired of painting them. I found this exercise difficult because I have never painted a single sunflower. I often use sunflowers as background for figure paintings, especially nudes.
From the Painting Guide: I think a sunflower makes a great flower portrait because of the golden glows that link the glorious, intense yellow/oranges in the petals and the dark browns in the center, and the tonal contrast between the two parts. The lovely touches of reflected yellow in the background and yellow to convey the highlight on the vase bring the elements of the painting together, adding to the sense of unity and color harmony.
Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
Composition: Consider how much of the total area of the composition is taken up by the flower and vase. At the moment there's a lot of negative space around it, and the sunflower doesn't dominate the composition in a totally compelling way. I would crop in to give the sunflower more prominence, so when you're looking at the painting there are no distractions (something like this). Though some people may think it then makes the painting top heavy.
Variation on a Composition: Look at the photo of the still-life setup, particularly the shape cast by the sunflower against the background. I think the ragged edge and strong lines make a very intriguing abstracted version of the sunflower and would be tempted to paint a version incorporating the shadow (something like this).
From the Painting Guide: I think a sunflower makes a great flower portrait because of the golden glows that link the glorious, intense yellow/oranges in the petals and the dark browns in the center, and the tonal contrast between the two parts. The lovely touches of reflected yellow in the background and yellow to convey the highlight on the vase bring the elements of the painting together, adding to the sense of unity and color harmony.
Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
Composition: Consider how much of the total area of the composition is taken up by the flower and vase. At the moment there's a lot of negative space around it, and the sunflower doesn't dominate the composition in a totally compelling way. I would crop in to give the sunflower more prominence, so when you're looking at the painting there are no distractions (something like this). Though some people may think it then makes the painting top heavy.
Variation on a Composition: Look at the photo of the still-life setup, particularly the shape cast by the sunflower against the background. I think the ragged edge and strong lines make a very intriguing abstracted version of the sunflower and would be tempted to paint a version incorporating the shadow (something like this).