Welcome to Part 3 of the Workshop Series brought to you by Mustard Seed Creations and Funky Junky Interiors! Before you muster up the courage to paint some flowers, remember that Donna is guiding you through determining your needs for setting up your work space this week. Reading her post really helped me think through how to approach my workshop space that I share with my woodworking husband. Make sure you visit her post when you're done here. You need to have a great area to create all of that beautiful hand painted furniture you're going to be working on this year, right?
Ok, some of you may be thinking, "I am not interested in painting frilly froo-froo 80's countrified things like flowers." Just stick with me. Hand painted floral pieces can be timeless, sophisticated, and modern. (And, yes, Donna, even funky) It all depends on the style of flowers, technique and colors you use.
Today we're going to work on a few floral basics. A daisy, tulip, and basic leaves. We'll also cover basic scroll work. There's a lot going on this week, so make sure you bookmark this page for future reference. Remember that you don't have to have everything mastered this week. Work at your own pace.
I am teaching these strokes using burnt umber paint. For most of my pieces, I use burnt umber mixed with glaze to "sketch" out my pattern. Keep a damp paper towel handy and just wipe it off if you mess up. This is much easier than sketching it with a pencil. This week, just practice with burnt umber and we'll add color, high lights and low lights next week.
Daisies - Last week, some of you picked up on the fact that a daisy is simply straight comma strokes pointing to the center using your #4 filbert. Then, use your liner to add the center. You can make the daisies large or small with as many petals as you want. I wouldn't go any lower than 5 petals, though.
Tulips - Using your #4 filbert, paint the center of the tulip. It's basically two large comma strokes that merge together. Do an "s" shaped stroke on either side of the center. Fill out the petals and then paint the stem.
You can make small tulip-shaped flowers with two petals by painting two comma strokes that are connected at the thick end. You can make a closed tulip by just painting the center of the tulip on a stem.
Leaves: There are several ways to paint a simple leaf. First of all, you can paint one like the center of a tulip with the tip pointing towards the stem.
Second, you can paint a leaf using a simple comma stroke.
Third, you can paint it like a tulip center with the tip pointing away from the stem.
Scrolls - Scroll work is basically comma and "s" strokes that are exaggerated and combined to make a pleasing pattern. For this scroll work, I used the #4 filbert brush.
This series of photos shows the progression...
For those of you who need to see the stroke in action, here's a video of tutorial of the daisy, tulip, basic leaves, and scroll work.
Here are some examples of what you can do with these newly learned strokes. This painted desk was done entirely using tulips, daisies, and basic leaves.
When you put it all together, it looks like it's much more complicated than it actually is.
This french style table was done in dasies, simple leaves, and comma strokes. The muted color pallet keeps it sophisticated.
Can you see the tulips, simple leaves, and large four petal daisy on this hand painted headboard and matching dresser?
The border on my hand painted chalkboard desk is done solely in scrolls, comma strokes, and simple leaves.
Do you see how modern daisies and leaves can look when painted in a solid color? The white and orange pallet emphasize that this hand painted piece is modern and funky; not country at all.
This white dresser is just tiny tulips and comma stroke leaves. Very simple, but it looks fancy.
So, Donna, do you have any beautiful sample boards to share with us this week? How can you see fitting some of these floral designs into your Funky Junk style?
Donna - "Wow! Never did I think you'd be throwing out such expert designs to us beginners! However once I visually broke down what you did, it's totally possible, although, a bit intimidating this early on.
I snuck into my garage after viewing your proof, and decided I needed to strike out on some real furniture. Some odds and sods that require love got hit with a few practice strokes.
I call the numbers froo froo funk. :) Incorporating your strokes, these were a total breeze to do. If I didn't like something I did, I simply wiped it off with a wet rag and tried again. I allowed the strokes of the brush to do the work. I need a lot more practice, but if I can pull this off with no practice, imagine what can be done if I put in some serious time! The flowers require smaller brushes than I had on hand so I'll be shopping soon."
That girl is good, isn't she? I love the numbers and the way she put the strokes together. Keep this in mind as you're practicing...we're all going to have a different look to our hand painted designs, just like we all have different hand writing. Your painted daisy won't look exactly like mine and your scroll work won't look exactly like Donnas. It also won't be perfect. If you want perfection, get a stencil or a vinyl decal. Part of the charm of hand painting is that you can see the imperfections and that it was rendered by a human hand. So, go easy on yourself and have fun with it! Please let me know how you're coming along...
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