Flowers always inspire me. Their vivid colors and shapes are a delight, and I find that drawing and painting them provide endless compositions, besides being a popular subject matter.

These beautiful sunflowers were picked from my garden and set in a transparent vase on a table outside to capture the light and shadows. My goal was to paint in a vignette format, meaning that the background is the plain paper and the design must touch three sides of the paper. Using fresh pigments straight from the tube and a large flat brush, the shapes were painted on a surface that I wet with water first. I feel the pigments appear brighter when wetting the shapes and then adding the pigments, allowing the colors to blend without mixing them on the palette.

While some of the shapes are still wet, I add a watercolor crayon scribble for seeds or veins in the leaves, or add shapes with an oil pastel. This gives the flower added color and texture. When the colors blend on the paper and are still wet, I sometimes add plain water for some soft shapes among the hard-edges of the petals.