Finally, paint the lightest areas. This is where the paint is at its thickest and contains a large proportion of white.
How to Paint Flowers & Trees with a Paint Knife
Unleash your inner Rembrandt and create tantalising textures and poignant patterns with your Reeves paint knives and oil or acrylic paint. Unlike painting with a brush, a paint knife creates new artistic opportunities to add super fine line and other details to your painting. If you have ever watched a Bob Ross video as he conjures whole landscapes out of thin air in a matter of minutes, you will have noticed the ease with which he uses paint knives to add textures, effects and details – not only for bigger details like mountain landscapes, but also trees and other flora. Read the Reeves guide on paint knives tips & tricks for more information.
What if we told you that creating wonderful masterpieces with a paint knife doesn’t have to be complicated and intimidating? Every budding artist can start exploring what happens to oil and acrylic paint when it is applied with something other than a paint brush. Bring your landscapes to a new level and find out how to paint flowers and trees with a paint knife.
Getting Started
Paint knives come in a wide range of varieties, with varying blade sizes and shapes that will impact the shape and texture of your trees and flowers. Before you start on your actual masterpiece, create a test canvas where you can freely explore how to use your various paint knives to get different results. Short blades create angular strokes whereas longer blades allow you to paint elongated strokes of colour. Paint knives with sharp tips are great for scratching into the paint, a technique called sgraffito. Rounded tips are fantastic for dabbing and building up layers. Then there are also paint knives with rectangular tips. Don’t be put off by so many choices, embrace it instead and find your inner Bob Ross or even inner Rembrandt, both famous knife painters. Should you make a mistake, simply see it as a happy accident and let your creativity flow. Your masterpiece will have a different finish based on whether you used acrylic paint or oil paint.
Painting Trees with a Paint Knife
For fir type and conifer trees, select the paint knife that allows you to create thin, horizontal lines along the canvas. Use a dark base for the full trunk and follow up with a lighter colour that will only partially cover the darker paint to give your newly created tree trunk more dimension. Once the trunk has been painted, move on to the needles. Use a dark green paint as a base, blotting your canvas with green paint – start wide at the bottom, narrowing your vertical lines as you move to the top of your tree. To add more dimension and depth to your fir trees, follow up with a lighter green paint for accentuation once your base layer has been painted on. You could add smaller touches of even lighter green paint, or go for a snowy landscape by adding white accents.
For broadleaf trees, such as maples or aspen trees, first create a wide-set tree trunk. Use a dark brown base, adding auburn or grey to white accent depending on the type of tree you want to recreate. Broadleaf trees really allow you to unleash your creativity as you can use a broad spectrum of colours for its foliage. Depict an autumn scene with fiery reds, oranges and yellow or encapsulate the start of spring using fresh green colours that simply pop off your canvas. Have fun and explore a full palette of colours to pay homage to the world-renowned artist Leonid Afremov whose oil paintings are famous for his use of vibrant, expressive colours applied by paint knives.
For the leaves, use a blunt paint knife to emulate their general shape. A rounded tip will have a distinctly different finish than a more pointed tip. Make sure to test out what shape and finish you prefer before choosing your final knife.
How to draw and paint flowers using oil paints
There is often anxiety among beginner painters about painting flowers using oils, especially if coming to oil painting from watercolour.
The apparent difficulty of flower shapes and the massing of them in a container is frequently daunting. I also notice a strange reluctance among men to tackle flower painting.
Perhaps painting flowers is regarded as a feminine activity, but Manet painted many flowers in oils and Van Gogh’s sunflowers are so famous as to be recognisable by most people, whether they paint or not. If you find the painting of flowers difficult, then consider this:
- All flowers can be reduced to simple shapes.
- Oil is an ideal medium in which to paint flowers because if things go wrong (and they will) the paint can be scraped off, or the image painted over without much trouble.
- The painting can be built up slowly.
How to draw flowers
Most flowers can be reduced to basic shapes, the most useful being cups, saucers, cones and cylinders.
Being aware of these shapes will help you look for the perspective of the flower arranged in front of you. For example, is it facing you or turned away slightly? This will enable you to tackle it in a more informed way.
Also, the way light falls on form is easier to understand when you know that the rose is a cup and therefore likely to be in shadow somewhere, according to the direction of the light.
1. Roses
Roses (depending on variety and state of flowering) can be constructed using either a cup shape or a cone.
2. Foxgloves and bluebells
Foxgloves and bluebells are constructed using a cylinder as the basic shape.
3. Daisies
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Daisies fit neatly into saucer shapes.
4. Daffodils
Daffodils are perfect cups and saucers
Foliage shapes are various: lozenge, oval, palmate, strap-like and so on.
Whatever their shape, however, leaves behave like ribbons; they bend, twist or curl. All have a back and a front.
Often the leaf is paler on the underside, yet you need to be able to see shadow, which will be darker.
Watch for the way light hits the top of the leaf; is the leaf glossy in texture? Then it will reflect more light.
Leaves (whatever their shape) behave like ribbons, they bend and twist and curl. This also makes the effect of light and shadow easier to see.
ROSES
For centuries, roses have been one of the most significant flowers in floristry. Their lush petals, saturated colors and intoxicating fragrance have made them welcomed guests in the best gardens of the world. There are many traditions, legends and even rituals connected with roses. They often appear as symbols in poems, songs and paintings. Every artist painting flowers have probably included roses in the composition. Here are some of the meanings imparted in this beautiful flower:
· Classic red roses are associated with fervent, passionate love and are granted as a sign of deep feelings towards the object of your affection.
· Pink roses can have a wide range of connotations, from simple elegance to tender romance. Strict and graceful, they can be given on nearly any occasion.
· Due to their timid and gentle color, white roses are often viewed as a symbol of pure, spiritual love and also remembrance. A bunch of such roses means that someone is thinking of you.
· If you want to make your bouquet both elegant and prominent, pick orange roses. They will fill it with color and energy.
· Finally, yellow roses are a common sign of friendship. This is the best choice if you want to express your warm feelings and gratitude to a person.
