Magnolia Bloom

MEDIUM: Digital Painting | STYLE: Painterly Realism | SIZE: 11 x 14 | ORIENTATION: Landscape | TOOLS: Procreate, 13″ iPad Pro, Apple Pencil Pro, Giclee Fine Art Archival paper and ink | AVAILABILITY: Prints available.

This stunning Magnolia bloom grew in Shadowmyst Art’s spring garden this year.  It was a perfect subject for a painting and so this is the result. Long elegant cream white petals with burgundy streaks and edges clustered around a deep wine colored eye and surrounded by strappy green, textured leaves all set in a background of the Magnolia bush’s thin grey stems.  Viewing this beautiful flower simply brings a gentle peace to any space where it lives.

ARTIST’S PROCESS: Magnolia Bloom was painted in Procreate on a 13″ iPad Pro using the Apple Pencil Pro. The piece builds traditional painting’s depth and texture through layered digital brushwork. A careful structural drawing was made of each element of the flower and the background. Color blocking for each element of the composition was laid down and  followed by multiple rounds of detail work and value refinement for the unique textures. colors, light and shade on each element. A final layer with a pass of subtle highlights and shading was added prior to merging all layers into the final piece.

CHALLENGE: Choosing how to handle the background on this piece was the challenge. The primary goal was to focus the viewer’s attention directly on the Magnolia Bloom and its leaves. A secondary focus to be set on the delicate grey branches spreading out randomly with a unified feel. A plain background would leave the Bloom and leaves hanging in empty space which would create a harshness to the softness of the bloom itself. Including more of the Magnolia bush in detail behind the bloom would distract from the beauty of the primary subject. The best solution was to paint the suggestion of the bush behind the bloom, leaves and branches keeping the background suggested but muted, soft and vague filling the canvas without disrupting the mood of the overall composition. 

SUBJECTS AND THEMES: Botanical — Magnolia — Flowers — Nature — Garden — Painterly Realism — Procreate Artwork