Bohemian Abstract Daisy

I love daisies! So pleased to find some time the other day to grow an abstract daisy. Its created inside a friend's journal for the theme 'Bohemiam Floral'.

The photos show a short visual description on how it was painted. I've used Dylusions acrylic paint with various stencils by Tim Holtz, Dyan Reaveley and Darkroom Door, foam ink blending tools, paint pens, a watercolour pencil and paintbrushes.

It started off with Dylusions Paint in yellow (Lemon Zest and Lemon Drop) blended over the whole page using a Ranger Ink Blending Tool. Once this was dry, I added more layers one at a time (letting them dry inbetween), using a darker colour with each stencil design until the last stencil where I used Black Marble through the Darkroom Door Grunge Borders stencil. Some stencils I painted and then pressed onto the page.

Once dry, I then sketched out a simple but very large daisy design using a blue watercolour pencil. Flower petals on daisies are simple... draw a circle (or trace a bowl) then add elongated loops or long ovals that butt into the circle. 

Don't worry if it doesn't look like a real flower, you'll find our eyes will see it as a flower whatever it looks like. Around the daisy I painted a wash of blue paint so that the background wasn't completely hidden. The watercolour pencil outline was activated with the water and blended into the paint easily. Any pencil marks still showing were washed off gently after the blue paint was completely dry.

Next was the centre of the flower. This is basically hundreds of overlapping dots (often called stippling) using a basic round paint brush (darker on the outside, lightest near the middle to give a rounded shape). Then for the final layer of spotty highlights and shadows, I used the end of my paintbrush (the wooden end creates fabulous spots). All the exes you can see were initially stenciled and then overpainted with white paint pen.

Lastly, I added more white outlines and some thoughts using Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Stickers and Quote Chips over a strip of Idea-Ology Fabric Tape.

I love how much difference a few layers of paint makes to any artwork. Its amazing!

Make Today Count, Trust Your Heart and Tell Your Story!