Impasto Dahlias

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

• Liquitex Basics Acrylic Paint, Titanium White
• Liquitex Basics Acrylic Paint, Brilliant Blue
• Liquitex Basics Acrylic Paint, Dioxazine Purple
• Liquitex Basics Acrylic Paint, Hooker's Green Hue Permanent
• 8"x 10" Canvas (pre-primed)
• Liquitex Professional Gloss Gel Acrylic Medium
• Liquitex Freestyle Size 17 Small Painting Knife
• Palette Paper
• Paper Towels
• Paper or Plastic (to protect work surface)

DIRECTIONS:

1. CREATE THE BACKGROUND:
• Add 3 tbsp of white directly on to the canvas.
• Using the palette knife, spread the paint around to cover the whole canvas to create a textured background.


2. MIX COLORS:
• Working on the palette paper; create 3 separate piles of paint
• Pile 1: 1 tbsp of purple and a pea sized amount of white
• Pile 2: 1 tbsp of blue
• Pile 3: .5 tbsp of green and .5 tbsp of blue
• Add 1 tbsp of the Gloss Gel to each pile on the palette and mix each separately.
• There will now be 3 piles of color: purple, blue and turquoise. Be sure to wipe off excess paint on a paper towel/rag between mixing colors


3. CREATE THE FLOWERS:
• Scoop a tiny amount of the purple mix onto the tip of the palette knife
• Press the tip of the palette knife on to the canvas to create a dot of paint
• Surround the first dot with 5 more dots.
• Using the side of the palette knife, scoop a pea sized amount of purple and press down onto the canvas to create a small petal, repeat until there are a ring of small petals surrounding the center dots.
• For the next row of petals use the same technique with slightly more paint to create a larger petal.
• Repeat until there is about a 4" flower, using a tiny bit more paint for each row of petals.
• Once the first flower is complete, repeat the same process using the blue paint a couple inches away from the purple flower.
• Repeat the process with the turquoise mix.
• Optional: mix lighter versions of each color by adding some white or play around with mixing the main colors to create different tones.
• Continue creating more flowers, allowing the outer petals to overlap. Mix up more paint if necessary.


4. FINISHING TOUCHES:
• Review the painting and add more petals/flowers until the canvas is full.
• Place the painting in a safe spot and allow two-three days to dry completely.