It’s no secret that I’m inspired to some degree by the flowers and forms of nature. One look at this website or my instagram page will quickly make that clear! In the last year I’ve become a convert to oil painting flowers having previously used mainly acrylic paints with other media.

Overcoming the ‘fear’ of working in oils

For some reason I avoided oil painting flowers for a long time. There seemed to be so many rules around what you could or couldn’t do with the medium, how you had to lay the paint down in a certain way, how you had to let layers dry between working back into the painting which I found really off putting. Encouraged by a friend I finally decided to take the plunge. And how I wish I’d done it sooner! I was instantly seduced by the wonderful texture of the paint, the quality of colour that could be achieved with it and the wonderful colour-mixing possibilities that oil paints allow. And I just painted how I wanted to with it.

Painting flowers in oil paints

I thought I’d share a quick step-by-step of how I make an oil painting of flowers – a study of hyacinths. The substrate is paper specifically for oil paints so it’s nice and thick and wonderful to paint onto.

First step is to lightly draw out the composition in pencil. When I’m happy I then block in the main background colours or underpainting using paint let down with shellsol t.  I apply this with a soft cotton rag to rub the paint around and to take the excess off.

Next I start to add the foreground details using thicker paint applied with a brush. I use about 12 different types of brushes when I’m painting. Again I let this down with shellsol t  and linseed oil to achieve the consistency I’m after. I love the depth and contrast that is created by layering thicker paint over a thinner ‘wash’ of colour. I start with the flowers first and then work into the leaves of the hyacinths. I’m still working on the bigger shapes and strokes building up colour and tone. The way the paint blends and mixes is very seductive.

I then add the smaller plants in the foreground before I go back in to paint in the sky. I like to work quite loosely and leave some of the background colour in the flower oil painting peeping through to add depth. Some of this colour is picked up in the blue but I don’t worry about that. Maybe try mixing your paint a little thicker if this happens.

Finally I add in the details using finer brushes. My particular fave is a liner brush which has longer length hairs. You have to make sure the oil paint is the correct consistency when you use this brush – a little like that of double cream.

Eddie my Airedale Terrier will often pop into the studio to see how things are progressing.

I like to live with my paintings for a few days to see if I’m happy with them. If not I can work back into them and the paint will have dried a little so you shouldn’t pick up any of the underneath colour.

Jacksons Art have a really useful guide to oil paint and oil mediums on their website.  Click here to read