Impasto Tulips

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

• Liquitex Basics Acrylic, Titanium White
• Liquitex Basics Acrylic, Napthol Crimson
• Liquitex Basics Acrylic, Primary Yellow
• Liquitex Basics Acrylic, Hooker's Green Hue Permanent
• Liquitex Basics Acrylic, Phthalocyanine Blue
• 8"X 10" Canvas (Pre-Primed)
• Liquitex Professional Gloss Gel Acrylic Medium
• Liquitex Freestyle Small Painting Knife, Size 7 & Size 16
• Palette Paper
• Paper Towels
• Paper or Plastic (to protect work surface)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Protect work surface with plastic or paper (recommended) and assemble supplies and tools.


2. Create the background:
• Working directly on the canvas, add 2 tbsp of Titanium White and a pea-sized amount of Phthalocyanine Blue.
• Mix using one of the palette knives, and spread the paint over the whole canvas.
• Add several pea-sized dots of blue to the bottom of the canvas and partially mix into the background to create a light to dark gradient.


3. Mix Colors:
• To the palette paper, add 1 Tbsp of each: Napthol Crimson, Primary Yellow, Hooker's Green Hue Permanent and Phthalocyanine Blue.
• Add 1 Tbsp of the Gloss Gel Medium to each color on the palette and mix thoroughly.
• Tip: when switching to a new color, wipe off excess paint on a paper towel/rag


4. Create the Stems:
• Using the size 7 palette knife, scoop a small amount of the green mix onto the side of the palette knife.
• Starting at the bottom of the canvas, drag the palette knife up vertically to create skinny lines, reloading the palette knife with more paint when necessary.
• Tip: Don't go all the way to the top and vary your lengths for an organic look!


5. Create the Leaves:
• Scoop a some of the green mix onto the size 16 palette knife (spade shaped palette knife) and press the paint onto the canvas, dragging down with pressure to create leaves that attach to the stems previously made.
• To create a variety of shapes, experiment with different angles, amounts of pressure & quantity of paint. Repeat until there are about 10 leaves.
• Create a lighter green by adding half of the yellow to some of the green and mix. Use this to add some lighter leaves to the painting.
• To mix a darker green, add half the blue to the remaining green, mix, and add to the painting.
• Repeat until the desired number of leaves have been created.


6. Create the Flowers:
• Scoop some yellow on to the size 7 palette knife and use a downward motion to create one petal centered on the top of a stem.
• Add two more petals on either side of the center petal to create the shape of a tulip. Repeat this process with the red mix.
• Mix the remaining yellow into the red to create orange for another tulip.
• TIP: To create variegated tones, don't fully mix the red and yellow
• Add a small amount of white to the remaining red and mix to create a pink (not fully mixing for variegation, if desired).
• Continue adding flowers of various tones until the desired number of flowers have been achieved. Mix up more paint if necessary.
• Optional: add some loose petals near the top of the painting and some white highlights to a few of the flowers.


7. Finishing Touches:
• Review the painting and add more flowers/leaves where needed.
• Place the painting in a safe spot and allow two-three days to dry completely.