Pansies

_{Photos: Ernestina Gallina}

Rock Painting Project Tutorial

A Lovely Painted Basket of Pansies

Acrylic Painted Flowers and Decorative Rocks

By Ernestina Gallina Posted 5/1/08 | Updated 12/4/20

What you'll need:

plump round rock
acrylic paint colors
brushes

Learn step by step how to paint a basket full of pansies on the smooth surface of a stone. A creative rock painting project that will delight flower and garden lovers with summer fun and garden creativity! Rocks suitable for this project and in general indicated for the optimal resolution of all the baskets, are round as a sphere shape, loaf shape or oval.

Step 1 Step 1

Step 1

Paint the inferior half of the rock with a dark brown base coat.

Step 2

Choose a lighter brown (hazel-brown) and trace horizontal lines into rings.

Step 3

Then proceed tracing the vertical lines to almost regular distance, in order to form the interlacing grid of the wicker.

You can do it less or more thick, as you like it.

Step 4

Now you begin the phase where you point out the interlacement. You need several tonalities, from natural sienna, to orange, to mars yellow, etc.

Arrange the several tonalities in yours palette, ready for being stirred and eventually grown lighter with the addition of some white, according to your taste.

Step 4

As you can see in the picture, you should show up the interlacement alternatively on the points of crossing of horizontal lines with vertical ones.

Pass your brush loaded with your lighter, warm colors on each crossing point, giving to your stroke a slightly curved course, in order to simulate the wicker that fold when climbs over the below line.

Look out, after a vertical brush-stroke there is always a horizontal one and thus gradually, always alternated.

Step 4

I started passing on the crossings the yellow of Mars that is a very covering brown-orange color, then once dry, I showed up some points with a lighter colour such as ochre yellow and other points with light yellow.

Step 4

When finished, your basket should appear with the interlacements very pointed out.

Step 5

Flowers: Pansies are very easy to draw: they are composed from two petals, variously jagged and just one larger petal, underneath. Behind the two petals there are other two, a little bit hidden.

Step 5

Draw several flowers. To give movement to the composition, place them in an irregular way and draw some of them that overflow on the basket.

Step 6

Cover your petals with a white base-coat, so the successive color will be brighter.

Step 7

Cover with a deep dark green all the empty spaces around the flowers, till you have all the hemisphere of your rock covered of colourful base.

Step 8

With brown color draw a line at the edge of the basket and trace some interlaced lines that cross the pebble from one side to another in order to form the handle of the basket.

Step 9

For the flowers you need at least two tonalities of yellow. Start painting the petals with a yellow lemon or a light yellow.

Step 10

Then shadow the inner area of the petals with a darker yellow, leaving a clear hem on the margin of each petal.

Paint in the same way also the two half-hidden petals.

Step 11

For the dark spots in the petals I used a dark brown.

Step 12

With the ochre yellow paint a shadow behind the two petals in order to detach them from those below ones.

Detail the centre of the flower adding a little bit of pure white and a point of yellow-orange.

Step 13

Draw with a lighter green many little leaves in the dark green empty spaces and trace the venation with a very thin brush and white.

For a more realistic effect, paint some of your little leaves partially beyond the edge of the basket and on its handle.

Step 13

Lastly, point out with touches of ochre yellow the interlaced wicker of the handle, and your colorful flower basket is completed!

Try different colors, violet, orange, purple red, blue, display your baskets as a group, the'll add a springtime splash of color to any setting!

Try different colors.

About Ernestina Gallina

Ernestina Gallina is a self-taught artist living in Italy. Her artwork has been exhibited within Italy and is currently in various private collections. ...