Art Instruction on How to Paint Clematis Montana

Step-by-step Tutorial on Floral Oil Painting on Canvas Using Impasto

Sep 30, 2009

The clematis flower provides opportunities for the artist learning how to paint flowers to use splashes of colour and expressive brush strokes.

Because climbing plants such as the Clematis are quite commonplace and easy to grow, one might overlook the possibilities they offer for oil painting. This demonstration shows how the clematis flower may be used as a focal point for a painting with the use of impasto medium.

Oil Painting Materials

Oil Painting Flowers Dark to Light

The canvas had been overlaid with a mixture of dark acrylic paint consisting of a mixture of burnt umber and ultramarine. Once dry, the drawing was roughly sketched out by using a chalk pencil.

The background was painted in before the flowers, so that the detail of the clematis plant could be applied on top. The mortar between the bricks was applied by a mixture of burnt sienna and white. Next the bricks were pasted on by varying amounts of cadmium red, permanent rose, burnt sienna, white and lemon yellow. Ultramarine was introduced for the bricks at the base. Perfection is not intended here, but an impression of regimented shapes that will compliment the organic contours of the clematis (fig 1).

Oil Painting Lesson on Painting Foliage

For the dark areas of foliage, a thin mixture of pthalo blue, viridian and lemon yellow was applied onto various areas of the canvas to bring out the contours of the plant. The dark under layer was allowed to show through in places to give the illusion of shadow (fig 2). The foliage was then given more form by adding a few highlights consisting of lemon yellow, viridian and white.

Painting the Flowers with Impasto Medium

Impasto medium is an alky-based gel that adds body to the paint. Its brownish colour will not affect the hue of the paint, but will make the flower heads of the clematis plant to stand out from the canvas. In this case, white and permanent rose was mixed together, and a little impasto medium was introduced. With a fine sable, the clematis petals were dabbed onto selected areas of the painting (fig 3).

Completing the Clematis

To give the clematis heads form, a little more permanent rose and a dab of ultramarine was introduced into the paint mixture and dabbed around the shaded areas of the petals (fig 4).

Once the canvas surface had been covered with the painting, some reinforcement and refinement was executed to pull the painting together. Burnt umber and pthalo blue was dabbed here and there to sharpen up the shadows; lemon yellow and white for the highlighted areas of foliage. Outlines were neatened off and vines illustrated in the clematis. Standing back from the painting periodically will help the artist judge the tonal balance of the painting and its overall look.

Art Lesson on Floral Painting

Completing a floral oil painting such as sunflowers, petunias, or in this case, clematis, is a great way for the floral artist to explore bold splashes of colour and using expression. One might often forget that a commonplace and hardy plant such as the Clematis Montana will produce an interesting floral oil painting via exploration of art techniques and oil painting mediums.

The copyright of the article Art Instruction on How to Paint Clematis Montana in Still Life Painting is owned by Rachel Wills. Permission to republish Art Instruction on How to Paint Clematis Montana in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.