Veronica Hughes: 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.

Painting anemones in acrylic paint

Some of the colors I did happen to buy that I used:

Warm Grey, Prussian Blue Hue, Sap Green, Quinacridone Red, Green Gold, Carbon Black,Translucent white,Diarylide Yellow

Americana premiun acrylic paints

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.

Wash acrylic paint into the canvas for a translucent look on canvas

Once the first layer dried, I painted rough petals in Translucent white. I slowly added layers on the white paint. While those dried, I added bright and cheerful greenery in Sap green, Green gold and Dairylide yellow around the edges. I decided all of the flowers needed to be in a blue vase.

Underpaint petals in white paint

I slowly added layers as they dried, adding bit of color with the white as I went. 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.

Add shading to flowers