Creating the One Stroke Way - Day 8

All that determination and persverance I wrote about in my last post is paying off. 

(You can see all the posts in the series on Day 1 of Creating the One Stroke Painting Way)

I pulled out my paints, brushes, paper and started playing around a bit. With all the autumn decorating going on around here, I was in the mood for sunflowers. 

I didn't get step-by-step pics this time, but I'll quickly walk you through my practice session. 

First, I loaded my brush with brown and a touch of green. Using plain ol' printer paper this time, I pulled my paintbrush around in a 'C' stroke that made half a circle, and then flipped it making a backwards 'C' to fill out a full circle.

Next, I loaded a slightly smaller brush with yellow and a touch of white. (The white didn't do much, so my second set I used a touch of green as a contrast color. Much better) Laying the brush at the edge of the circle, I pulled out from the circle, with a slight turn and lift of the brush, like I did when making leaves. I repeated this all the way around the sunflower, making a full circle of pretty petals. On some, I made a second row of petals, right over the first row, to give it a fuller effect. 

Then, I used my brush loaded with brown paint again, painting another center circle, just darken/deepen the color there. I used my scruffy brush to add some highlights - green, white, yellow. I did it all, but can't decide what I like best. That's the fun of a practice session!

Now, once these sunny flowers began coming to life, they looked, well . . . rather undressed. So I grudgingly began adding a few leaves. Wow! They flowed out so much better, so much easier. Not perfect, but acceptable in my eyes. What a difference a day makes, eh? 

Sunflowers are so bright and cheerful, especially this time of year, don't you think?

If you'd like to know more about the One Stroke Painting method created by Donna Dewberry, or if you are interested in her workshops, instruction books or other products, you can check her website at http://www.dewberrycrafts.com/

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