How to Do an Oil Painting of a Sunflower

A sunflower is made up of circles and triangular shapes.

Artists who chose to work with oils appreciate the creamy texture of the medium and slow drying process of the paint. Create a sunflower blossom or the entire plant with oil paint for a richly colored art work. When painting a sunflower still life you will notice that the flowers are a series of colors, from cadmium yellow to burnt sienna. Study a blossom or photo to paint in the shadows, highlights and shapes of the sunflower as you work on your oil painting.

Things You'll Need

• Linseed oil

Instructions

1. Sketch the round center of the sunflower on the canvas using a pencil. Draw the thick stem of the plant and the rounded outlines of the leaves with pointed ends. Lightly sketch the outlines of the petals around the outer edge of the circle. They are shaped like an elongated teardrop with a fully rounded bottom and a pointed tip.

2. Draw a second layer of petals halfway between each petal of the bottom layer. This second row will overlap and cover a good portion of the first layer of petals. Set the canvas up on a tabletop or floor-model easel.

3. Brush in the background of the sunflower painting using the color of choice and a medium to large square paintbrush. Fill in the sunflower center with a light layer of burnt sienna paint that is thinned with linseed oil. Mix a small amount of sap green with linseed oil on the palette. Fill in the stem and leaves of the plant with a light layer of the green paint.

4. Squirt a small amount of cadmium yellow onto your palette. Fill in the under layer of background petals with the yellow color. Add a small portion of white paint next to the yellow color and mix them together to create a pale yellow. Fill in the top layer of petal shapes with the pale yellow paint using a small No. 2 or 3 square brush. For a large canvas, use wider brushes for background work.

5. Add cadmium orange to cadmium yellow on the canvas. Dip the tip of a No. 2 or 3 round brush into the paint and add depth by painting fine lines down the sides to create shadows on the top layer of the petals. Paint fine lines down the center of some of the petals with this deeper color to add dimension. Add burnt sienna to the palette and add darker lines to a few of the bottom layer of petals that are in the shadows of the large flower head.

6. Dip a square flat brush into burnt sienna. Use quick tapping motions to dot the color onto the center of the sunflower to create the mass of mature sunflower seeds. Squirt alizarin crimson and white onto the palette. Dip the paintbrush that has burnt sienna on it into the deep red paint and dab it around the outer rim of the flower center. The wet paint will blend. Lightly dab some white into the sides and center of the area with a small brush to add highlights to the color.

7. Mix black paint into the cadmium green to darken it. Brush the dark green paint down the center and shadowed edge of the plant stem and leaves. Add small amount of yellow down the side of the stem with a No. 1 round brush to create highlights. The paint will blend slightly as you run the brush down the edge. Step back and look at the painting to see where touch-ups are needed.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't over-blend wet oil paint or a muddy dull color may be the result.

References

• How to Draw Cartoons Online: How to Draw Sunflowers
• The Accidental Artist: How to Paint Sunflowers