Bloom Series, Carnation

Bloom Series — Carnation.

Bloom Series Carnation is one of six bloom paintings in the collection, each selected from the garden for their striking beauty. Carnations, or Dianthus caryophyllus, are perennials cherished for their use as cut flowers long vase life, edible in salads and food garnishes and they have medicinal properties. The Carnation is the birth flower for January and the official flower of Spain, Slovenia, and Monaco.
The Carnation features a variety of vibrant shades of pink, white, coral, and red and are known for their ruffled appearance and spicy, clove-like fragrance. Included in the Bloom Series, this painting transports the garden’s beauty indoors, allowing for year-round enjoyment.

MEDIUM: Digital Painting | STYLE: Painterly Realism | SIZE: 8 x 10 | ORIENTATION: Landscape | TOOLS: Procreate, 13″ iPad Pro, Apple Pencil Pro, Giclée Fine Art Archival paper and ink | AVAILABILITY: Prints available | CONTACT SHADOWMYST ART FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

ARTIST’S PROCESS:

Bloom Series: Carnation was painted in Procreate on a 13” iPad Pro using the Apple Pencil Pro. Like each painting in this six-piece series, Carnation replicates the depth and texture of traditional paintings through layered digital brushwork. A meticulous structural drawing was created, detailing the shape, leaves, stems, and patterns for this particular piece. The background color is a neutral light grey with a watercolor texture pattern and a gentle sweep of small, irregular dots in a mix of medium grey and cream color, spread across the canvas behind the blooms to add movement to the piece. This background is uniform across all six pieces in the series, unifying the series.

The subsequent step involved color blocking for the full bloom, the leaf group, and the stem on separate layers to establish depth through variations in size, intensifying colors, and creating distinct light and shadow effects. Above the base color of each element, multiple rounds of intricate detail work and value refinement were applied to render the characteristic details for each part of the plant. The Carnation’s profusion of thin, straight petals with serrated or tightly ruffled edges positioned close together in circular rows in a symmetrical formation from the center creates an almost carpet-like appearance to the bloom and required careful mapping of the petals’ positions to obtain the full flower while keeping the individual petals distinct.

CHALLENGE:

The abundance of symmetrically developed petals that can appear random at the top edges of serrated or tightly ruffled petal edges presents a challenge in mapping the petal positions across the surface of the bloom and maintaining the clarity of each distinct petal. The process commenced with the creation of a detailed map of the petal landscape on a sketch layer. By placing the sketch layer above the working layers and reducing its visibility to 20%, it became possible to establish a foundation for selected groups of petals, isolating them for individual painting. This structured approach facilitated the working with randomly shaped and positioned petals without compromising the overall cohesion of the flower.

Utilizing the map sketch, base colors, and selected groups of petals, work commenced on each petal section. The Procreate copic brush was employed with full opacity and a size of 5% for the initial pass, followed by decreasing the brush size to 2% and 60% opacity for subsequent passes. Shading was applied to the recessed areas between the petals and highlights were created at the petal edges. Several passes of darker color were layered to establish stronger contrast between the petals at the base and gradually transitioning to pale color at the edges.

A final section layer was created to add shade and light to the ruffled edges of each petal. The same copic brush was utilized at 90% opacity and a size of 1% in most areas, with the size increasing where deeper bends and folds were required.

The same process was repeated for each isolated petal section, and then merged to form the complete flower. The final touch involved using the Procreate Smudge tool set with soft airbrush at a size of 1% and 50% opacity to smooth any edges of the sections that did not connect seamlessly with neighboring petal sections.

SUBJECTS AND THEMES:
Botanical — Carnation — Flowers — Garden — Nature — Bloom Series — CONTACT SHADOWMYST ART FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION