Your box is wonderful. Did you paint what looks like a ribbon on it also and with what kind of paint? I wish I lived close and I would attend your class to make one. Love the colors u used. Your such an inspiration for all. Keep painting and posting. Just Love It.

PG, The box is painted in DecoArt Americana Soft Sage. The band around the box and on the top is done in a beautiful Champagne Gold. It is like gold and silver mixed together, again Americana. With Hauser Dark Green I painted the vine around the band of gold and then came back with a double load of Hauser Dark Green and a touch of white to make the leaves. I used an old scruffy brush, pounced it in Mauve and a little white on the edge to paint the doofer flowers.

We paint after each of our chapter meetings and we have to rely on the members to volunteer to teach a project. This month we are painting an Americana tin star with a Santa on it. Last month we painted a lady sunbathing ont he beach with her sun bonnet on her head. I love painting flowers so I thought the ladies would like this. My husband is my best critic and he loves it. Wouldn't it be great if we could all get together and paint?
Thanks for the compliment.
B

Oh, PF, I love your box. Such soft pretty colors, and you paint flowers so beautifully. Even IF I could attend your class, I don't think I could ever paint that well. Luvs

Just Beautiful! wish I could take one of your classes!
oddie

I can only see one of the pictures, but it's lovely. Your students will love it. :) ~Anj

PF, did you move or delete the picture of the box? Photobucket sometimes breaks the link if you make changes to your album. Perhaps you can repost it. Luvs

OOPS!! Must have deleted it when I was cleaning up the computer. Here it is again.
{{gwi:2081386}}

So pretty! I love the detail work.
Marika

How about some details PF. Are these pretty flowers done with strokework or basic painting with shading and hiliting? I love how you made some of the petals look like they shimmer. Did you do that with a double hilite? And the leaves sort of look like strokework, but I'm not sure. You did an excellent job on the stamens and the centers--really looks like pollen! Tell us more about your techniques if you would. I know it would be so much easier to "show" us, but maybe you can do it with words too. Luvs

Thanks so much, all of you. The flowers are basic painting but the shimmer is a back to back float. The leaves are a bit of strokework because I started with a regular t-bone leaf then I knew it would take too long to complete in a 3-4 hour class so I switched some of the leaves to a double loaded stroke with a base coat of the medium hauser green. The pattern is from a picture in one of my books, I had to draw it because the box was so small. I will give you the basic painting -

Flowers
1. Based coat in Soft Sage (I then used a wet dry sandpaper to smooth - two coats
2. Base in the flowers with French Mauve, the leaves in Medium Hauser Green.
3. With a side load of Mauve, I shaded around the center one petal at a time. I used a slight C shape, meaning I started the shading on the side of the petal then came in toward the center and then back up the side of the petal.
4. Shade under the folded petal tip and between the petals where one petal is under another.
5. Highlight with buttermilk the petal edges and the turned part of the petal. Using a back to back float of white, highlight the center of several petals - the "shimmer" is where you want the petal to look raised up. Add a deeper shading with Black Plum, but it should be a smaller shade down in the deepest part of the petal.
6. With a small scruffy brush, pounce in the center with medium hauser green. Pounce a little bit of yellow and white on the right side of the center. Float dark green in a C shape around the left side of the petal to make it sit. The stamens are bright yellow with Black Plum on the tips.
7. The small pink flowers are simply based in with French Mauve, then shaded around the bottom and between the petals with Mauve and again with Black Plum. The little white lacy flowers are done with a scruffy brush and white, then a few stems pulled in with one of the greens.
Leaves

1. Base coat with Medium Hauser green. Shade the base of the leaf with Hauser Dark Green. With Medium Green and light Buttermilk double loaded, Stroke the leaf from the base to the tip. Then come back and stroke a vein from the base up with the chisel part of the brush. Accent a few leaves with Black Plum, add Black Plum to a few of the tips. I added a few Ice Blue accents on the bottom leaves.
2. Splatter the bottom part of the box with Medium and Dark Green (I use an old toothbrush, easier to control)
3. Fill a liner with the dark green and do a few curly q's.

Add a few champagne gold comma strokes, mask off the gold band with painter's tape, then paint in with two coats. I used a compass with the pencil about 1/2 inch shorter than the compass tip. Measure where you want the band to be from the edge. Place the pencil on that area, the compass point will be along the outside edge of the box. Gently glide the pencil around the box. This is the easiest way I have found to do banding.

Do the same band of gold around the sides of the box. Then with a liner and dark green make your vine going over the gold band and skipping the band a some points so it looks as though the vine went under. The doofer flowers are with a scruffy brush pounced in with French Mauve and tipped in white, I pounced in three, one to the left, one slightly higher in the center and then one to the right.

After I finish painting I leave it and will come back later and add more shading and highlight if necessary. I also decided to add a few leaves for balance and then I brought a few of the small leaves from the top of the box over the lid.

Hope this helps. I love teaching painting but don't do it often enough - I have to share with the other members. I originally planned to do stroke roses but didn't think I would have enough time.
B

PF, you did a great job of writing out what you did. I didn't mean to make you write it all out. However, now anyone on here could draw a similar pattern and follow your directions to paint it. Thank you for explaining the shine and the curled tips of the flowers. I'll bet you are an excellent teacher. ;o) Luvs

Luvs, I reread the post and realized you were only asking about the shimmer - sorry, I did get a bit windy didn't I? It will be a good guide for me since I have to write out the instructions anyway for my class. I always give them really good instructions, a photo or two, a pattern, and any helpful hints. I love sharing anything and everything I know about painting as much as I love learning from others. The joke around the house is that when I die I want my brushes, paints and even a book or two to go with me - you never know what is on the other side and I want to be prepared in case I meet someone who hasn't tried painting yet.
B

You are cracking me up Bebe! ha Crazy woman. You are an excellent teacher. I would love to be in one of your classes too, but I'm sure you'd be wanting to beat me over the head with your brushes before it was over. I'm such a slow painting learner. ha Thanks for reposting the pic. The top was the best part and I would have hated to have missed it. Beautiful. :) ~Anj

Anj, the best thing about painting is having fun with it. In my classes we tell jokes, we have door prizes, and we eat. I take painting really seriously but I don't push that on the students, they learn so much more when they are relaxed and having fun. One of the things I stress most is that the student has to "feel" the brush and the paints. It's like when you press the brush hairs when you are stroking a rose, you can feel the pressure from the brush and you can feel the paint as it slides across the canvas (or wood). Ok, I am getting too excited just thinking about it - weird, huh?

Yall are the best!!

OMG, these are so beautiful Paintingfool, you are so very talented. Q: Do you have a website where we can see more of your creations?

Sal

Sal, not yet but I am working on it. I'm not very computer literate - yet, like painting, I have a little more practice.
Thanks,
B