Field of Coreopsis

Field of Coreopsis.

This Coreopsis flower painting, titled Field of Coreopsis, captures the daisy-like blooms in dense, bushy clumps of narrow, tapered foliage. Coreopsis blooms continuously from early summer through fall in a range of heights and hues — yellow, red, pink, and white — attracting songbirds, butterflies, and pollinators to enrich a garden’s biodiversity.

A captivating spectacle of colorful blooms atop slender stalks swaying in a summer breeze, this piece creates a visual highlight that lingers into fall, long after other flowers have finished blooming. Field of Coreopsis draws inspiration from these delicate, daisy-like flowers dancing above the garden, alongside the butterflies and bees they attract.

MEDIUM: Digital Painting | STYLE: Abstract, Impressionistic | SIZES: 8×10 — 11×14 — 16×20 — Custom sizes may be available. Click CONTACT to inquire | 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:

Field of Coreopsis was painted in Procreate on a 13″ iPad Pro using the Apple Pencil Pro, building the depth and texture of traditional painting through layered digital brushwork. Designed in an impressionistic watercolor style, the piece evokes the visual impact of a garden filled with colorful flowers atop tall stalks, moving with every summer breeze.

The composition began with a detailed structural drawing of the leaves, meticulously capturing the whimsical placement of the blooms and stems across the canvas.  A multi-layer process with a traditional watercolor technique utilizing multiple brushes selected from the Watercolor Magic brush set created by Silver Birch Studio was used to create different layers for the pollen disk, the stems and leaves, the tall grass blades and the background washes. Each of these elements required additional layers to add shading and light and the final layers to create finer details to each element in the composition.

CHALLENGE:

Coreopsis possesses a multifaceted pollen disk, which presented a challenge in this artwork. The primary pollen disk comprises small, textured circular structures closely clustered together. To depict this, the DuoColor Brushy Blender brush from the Silver Birch Studio Watercolor Magic set was employed at a 10% size and 100% opacity. The color pair was set to medium brown and soft yellow, and the brush was used to dab round shapes, filling the center disk.

To enhance the depth and light reflections, the layer was set to Alpha Lock, limiting the paint to the center section. The color pair was then altered to a lighter selection and then a darker selection for two additional passes over the disk.

The outer ring of the pollen disk consists of a series of tubular shapes extending outward from the main disk. A new layer was created for this section and placed beneath the main disk layers. Using the color pair from the main disk’s original color pair, the DuoColor Rough brush was employed in small strokes to create a circle around the main disk. A second layer was created above, and the color pair was changed to a medium yellow and white for an additional pass of small strokes, following the highlight pattern across the outer disk to introduce the light source in this section.

Each layer was then duplicated, with the top copy of each being set to full brightness in the Procreate Adjustments tool. This layer was then duplicated until the original color layer became invisible against the canvas. The next step involved merging the brightened layers and moving them below the original layer, followed by another merge. This process rendered the original color layer stable when adding background elements that would have altered the watercolor appearance of that layer.

The final step in creating the Coreopsis pollen disk was to duplicate the main disk and the ring layer, moving the copy layer below the original. The saturation and brightness of each layer were then reduced by 75%, creating a darkened version of each layer. Using the Procreate Transform tool, the darkened layer was moved to a shadow position by tapping in the desired direction. Gaussian Blur was applied by 10%, and the layer opacity was reduced to 15%, creating an inner shadow for each element of the disk, thereby enhancing the depth.

SUBJECTS AND THEMES:

Coreopsis Flower Painting — Daisy Family — Wildflower Garden — Botanical — Nature Illustration —  CONTACT SHADOWMYST ART FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION