PAINTING NEGATIVELY

Character v Perfection - An exercise in painting negatively and how to simplify.

In Saturday’s workshop I was explaining to the students how to paint flowers in the negative sense...it is very easy to get lost in the detail and begin by painting each individual petal.

This is:
a: time consuming
b: fiddly
c: laboured and sometimes lacks character as a result

Start by trying to see past the detail. Block in the main shape, using big brushes, laying down brushstrokes in unusual directions with a selection of colours that are the correct tone. This way you can be loose with your mark making, creating interesting marks that would be difficult to achieve if you were to go about painting each petal individually.

When we reform the edges of the flower in the negative sense (by trimming it back into shape) we are left with results that are fresh and unusual. It then makes you far more ‘choosey’ about what detail you will add on the top with a preference to keep it minimal and doing ‘just enough’.
We also keep the density of the flower that can so often become too spindly when painted in the positive sense.