Poppies in Cottenham

Poppies, Oils on board 6"x8"

This has not photographed very well. The darks are not as dull as they look here. I sat down on this quiet little track in the Cambridgeshire fens and painted this on a red ground. Quite handy for the poppies of course. Made the mistake at one point of thinking I could get a lighter red than neat colour by adding white. No way. You get pink! This would be so different in watercolour where you would simply add water. I sat down on a small collapsible stool and rested my pochade box in the long grass. That was fine until I dropped the cap of one of my oil tubes by mistake and it disappeared forever. I should have put all the kit on the large plastic bag I was carrying.

Facing into the sunlight was a must – the saturation of the red through the petals was really strong. But in painting terms it’s impossible to reproduce it so I painted the undergrowth really dark to set the flower heads off.

~ by noelgarner on June 12, 2009.