A profusion of peonies
Sandra Corpora demonstrates how to capture the spectacular and short-lived beauty of peonies in oils and shares her tips for painting FRESH flOWERS
Sandra Corpora demonstrates how to capture the spectacular and short-lived beauty of peonies in oils and shares her tips for painting fresh flowers
As soon as peonies start to bud they seem to explode into extravagant beauty and size. Then, before you can squeeze out paint, the petals start dropping. I have to admit that I had mixed emotions when a neighbour gave me an armload of beautiful peonies. Appreciation, joy and a bit of anxiety came over me, because I couldn’t waste any time. I wanted to honour this gift by painting them immediately.
Composition
For any still life – any painting for that matter – the composition is critical to the success of the painting, so I gathered vessels and backdrops and started arranging possible concepts. I used the natural north light of my studio and photographed a number of potential peony still-life paintings. Because the camera is an objective eye, I find I can spot compositional problems more easily in a photograph than looking at the actual set-up. For instance, some blooms need to move or turn, dark negative spaces might need to be adjusted, the centre of interest might be off, or the directional path the eye follows may not work. I notice tangents to eliminate and I can adjust the value pattern as well as the colour arrangement. All of this takes time but is very important. In the meantime, my blooms aren’t getting any perkier. Finally, I had some good photo references.
Preliminary work
The quality of the photographs is important, so I always use a tripod and I make sure the colour is accurate. I sometimes use a print of the photo to start a painting but then I also use my iPad for more accurate colour and detail. The tablet allows me to enlarge areas to the actual size of my painting
and to see detail much better.
Once I’ve photographed a selection of arrangements to paint, I have time to do a small painting from life of several blooms. This allows me to practise painting the shapes of petals and the colour. I find the experience of looking at the actual flower parts and mixing the colours is valuable. As I painted this small painting, a bud that had begun to open kept opening and changing shape as I painted. This didn’t concern me as this was my practice piece for a larger painting.