Wedding Flowers - A Custom Painting in Oil Part 2

Now that the background and foreground for this oil painting is finished, it's time to paint wedding flowers!  
click here for Wedding Flowers Oil Painting Part 1

Cut flowers need a vase or a pot so I'll paint it before the flowers that go into it. See below for how this painting is finished:

Wedding Flowers - A Custom Oil Painting Part 1

An oil painting of the beautiful flowers at a woman's wedding is a wonderful idea for an anniversary gift - especially if the flowers are the bride's favorites! They will remind her of her happy day for many years to come.

Such a request came in recently. The flowers and outdoor setting in the photo the client sent were so beautiful that I looked forward to painting them. I'll show you how I go about it below.

Pee Gee Hydrangeas Floral Oil Painting

What will this be?

That's the question I asked on my Facebook page. People took their guesses:

• autumn foliage?
• flowers?
• hydrangeas?
• cotton candy?

It turns out that some of them were right and of course you already know what it will be because you've seen the post title and picture. This is the beginning of an oil painting of PeeGee hydrangea blossoms (though it does look like cotton candy).

If you'd like to see how the rest of the painting turns out, read on:

Red Bird in a Summer Garden Oil Painting

The inspiration for this scene comes from a beautiful estate in upstate New York where my son worked as a gardener for a few summers. He took many photos and this is one scene that I particularly like. I decided to try it in oils adding a bird at the bird bath and making some changes to the composition.

So I got out a 5x7 Ampersand panel and my oil paints. I'll show you how I painted it below. The finished painting is available for sale in my Original Art shop: Red Bird in a Summer Garden oil painting

Garden Gate with Stargazer Lilies Flower Oil Painting

"Garden Gate"
As the name suggests, this oil painting has a gate as its focus. Come on into my studio and I'll show you how I painted it...

 First I draw a rough sketch of the scene on the panel. There are mountains in the distance, so I paint those in first after brushing in a summer sky with a few puffy clouds.

The mountains are far away, so I use blue to paint them. Distant things appear more blue due to atmospheric effects:

Pink Peony Oil Painting on Panel

Peonies are a most beautiful flower, don't you think? They are gone from my garden now, so I painted one of them to save its memory. I'll show you how I did this painting below, but first, look what showed up in my yard the other day:

White Hydrangea Blossoms in Oil and a Butterfly Surprise!

What are your favorite July flowers? Hydrangeas are one of my favorites and I enjoy painting them.

Since they are blooming in my garden now, I got out my oils and a 5x7 acid-free panel to do a small painting focusing on one of the blossoms.

When I went outside to get a close-up view of the flowers, I noticed a black butterfly hanging upside down from the stucco siding of the house. I was hoping it was not caught in a spider web, but upon closer inspection,  I saw this: