Anemones in acrylic
I have to start out by saying I almost never, ever use purple paint in my artwork. It’s not a color that is on my preferred color palette. So of course,when I was asked to try DecoArt’s new Americana Premium acrylic paints,sold at Michaels, buying a tube of purple paint was the last thing on my mind. I picked up every color I thought I would use and brought them home. I was getting in the zone, ready to paint, and flipping through a gardening catalog for inspiration. One flower really drew me in, and I decided I had to paint anemones in acrylic paint. The green and whites really popped out at me… and then I saw it. The PURPLE CENTERS. PURPLE. Centers. In case you didn’t notice, I am going to type it like every e-mail I’ve ever received from my father-in-law, in all caps. PURPLE. I quickly scanned every tube of paint I bought, hoping I slipped up and threw a tube of something resembling an eggplant in my bag. NOPE.
Some of the colors I did happen to buy, that I used in the painting:
Warm Grey, Prussian Blue Hue, Sap Green, Quinacridone Red, Green Gold, Carbon Black,Translucent white,Diarylide Yellow
Medium square brush, round brush, paper towel and water.
I decided I couldn’t let that hold me back. Luckily, I had picked up tubes of blue and red, and remembered the color wheel from my my early days in kindergarten, and mixed my own. Crisis averted.
I started my canvas by mixing Warm Grey,Translucent White, and Prussian Blue Hue, and washing them into the canvas with a damp paper towel with a bit of water for a translucent look.
Once the first layer dried, I painted rough petals in Translucent white. I slowly added layers of paint. While those dried, I added bright and cheerful greenery in Sap green, Green gold and Dairylide yellow around the edges. To make the greenery just make short strokes with a round brush, and layer your greens, starting with the darkest first, and moving to the lighest.I decided all of the flowers needed to be in a blue vase.
Some acrylic paints dry really fast ,and it’s hard to blend with out using an extender, or a matte medium.These had a great open working time. It was actually longer than I was normally used to. I liked it, but I had to slow down while I worked, because I started lifting old paint up when the next layer went over the top.
Once I was near the end, I added the PURPLE flower centers, to my anemones in acrylic. To make the centers, use the tip of a round brush to dab in the paint, and then dab in the center in a circular pattern. If the PURPLE seems to heavy, add some white back over the top.
Maybe next time, I need to get out of my comfort zone and add a few more colors to my cart.
To paint the blue vase, underpaint in white, and then add Prussian Blue, and shade the edges with Carbon black.
I added some PURPLE to white to lighten it to a lavender, and use a round brush to dab tips on the edges of my greenery.
You can find the new DecoArt Americana acrylic paints at Michaels.
This post is sponsored, but opinions are all my own.
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This is beautiful – especially with the PURPLE! But, I can’t understand why PURPLE is NOT on your preferred color palette! I love all shades of PURPLE! It’s a calming and relaxing color and is often associated with creativity – which you have lots of! Hope to see you using it more often! Give it a chance and buy PURPLE paint! It might grow on you!
You are so right Gail! I think it’s a color I’ve never gravitated towards, but maybe I need to start including it more!
beautiful!!!