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Yellow Rose

This rose took forever, but I am pleased with the level of details and the likeness to the reference pictures. The grisaille was in umber and then of course I proceeded to the colour layer. Again, this was a small study on cardboard back in 2018, and I brought it to my mother.


Again I started with a very rough outline and then proceed to a detailed drawing directly with the brush.

The colours I used were:

  • Titanium White

  • Yellow Ocre

  • Raw Umber

  • Paynes Grey

The Medium was very lean:

  • 5 parts Turpentine

  • 1 part Damar Varnish

  • 1 part Linseed Oil



Here is the finished grisaille layer, which I have to say I like better than the finished picture in colour:


For the first colour layer, the colours I used were:

  • Paynes Grey

  • Lead White

  • Cadimium Yellow (pale hue)

  • Cadmium Yellow

  • Sap Green

  • Emerald Green

  • Cadmium Red (deep hue)

The medium used here was a little more fat:

  • 2 parts Turpentine

  • 2 parts Damar Varnish

  • 1 part Linseed Oil

As you can see the grisaille layer shows through this first colour layer, and I've eliminated the last petal to the left (the one that covered part of the leaf) because it would have spoilt the form of the crinkled petal immediately next to it, the shape of which I really loved.


At this point I liked the shape and the detail, however the rose looked quite flat and it needed some glazing and some highlights.

So I added those and completed the second and final colour layer:



My mother wanted it at that point, so I could not complete it, but rather I varnished and signed it.

Ideally I would have liked to:

  • Add highlights and glazing to the leaf, which is still pretty basic

  • Eliminate the shadows that are too dark in the inner petal (lower center, where some Umber and Paynes Grey still show)

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