Category Archives: Wildflowers

‘Beauty Emerges From the Mist’               5×7           pastel          ©Karen Margulis

Paintings deserve a good title. I admit that I am not the best at naming my paintings. Usually the titles are afterthoughts. And usually the titles are just descriptive like ‘Morning Marsh’ or Summer Meadow’. But I have been thinking about it a lot and I am convinced that titles should be given with thought. I know that when I like someone’s work, I also look at the title and I am drawn to the more evocative titles. A title such as ‘Kingdom by the Sea’ is more interesting than ‘The Sand Castle’. These evocative titles give me a little more insight into the artist and the painting. As Robert Genn says in his post about Painting Titles “… titles serve to confirm what’s seen but also to add knowledge, insight, and a glimpse into the author’s mind-set.” Genn says artists should take the time to determine what they are trying to say with their paintings and if the titles they choose supports or detracts from their purpose.  I have renamed several of my wildflower paintings with titles that have more insight into my own thoughts of the painting. You can see them on my daily painting blog HERE

‘Believe in Magic’           19×27                pastel     ©Karen Margulis

I have been wanting to add some bumblebees to my wildflower paintings so this one was a lot of fun to paint.  I started the painting with a watercolor underpainting which I love for this subject. I enjoy the drips and unexpected blooms that come with the watercolor.  If you would like to see a step by step demo of this painting please visit my daily painting blog here.

‘Wishful Thinking’            5×7           pastel  SOLD

This week I have been experimenting with watercolor underpaintings. I love the possibilities that the watercolor creates. It drips, it blooms and colors merge. It makes an exciting base to build my pastels painting on. This painting started with a watercolor underpainting with a dusting of pastel pieces for the dandelion seeds.

‘Summer Fields’             5×7        pastel    ©Karen Margulis   SOLD

This painting is done on Townsend Pastel Paper which I really love. It has a soft feel due to the BFK Rives paper but has nice tooth from the sanded surface. I experimented with the Dusting technique of shaving pastel over the painting which gives an interesting effect to my wildflowers.

‘Poppy Love’                   5×7                 pastel              ©Karen Margulis

Painting red flowers can be tricky. How do you make them rich and colorful? How do you make them have depth? How can you paint them so they pop off the paper. I want you to feel like you can pick my flowers. It helps to have the right colors especially with pastels. While you can layer and create new colors with pastels, to make really vibrant flowers, you need to have the right vibrant pastels. Terry Ludwig makes the most luscious rich vibrant reds. I like to use his pastels and some others from Great American. They make up my ‘go to’ reds. Use the darkest coolest reds first and layer your reds getting warmer in the ‘sunlit’ areas. You want to use warmer reds…..not lighter reds (pinks). Also you can surround the red flowers with cooler greens and blues which will help intensify the reds.

To see more tips on getting your Poppies to Pop visit my blog.

‘Nantucket Wildflowers’ 11×14 pastel
I had my oil paints out for a commission so rather than waste the leftover paint I decided to do an underpainting for a pastel. I love oil underpaintings because of the interesting drips than can happen. You have to get the consistency of the paint just right. Too thick and you fill the tooth of the paper, too wet and it is washed out and you don’t get the cool drips. I am sharing a close-up photo of my underpainting and one of the ‘drips’ I like to call them root systems because they remind me of plant roots. I tried not to cover all of these roots with pastel in my painting so I used a light touch. If you enlarge the photo of the finished painting you can still see the underpainting. If you are going to use an oil paint underpainting, be sure you are using a surface that can get wet. I used Uart for today’s painting.

‘Daisy Garden II’                               24 x 24                        pastel

I had fun painting these daisies for a collector in Australia. I actually painted two of them and they are the largest flower paintings I have done at 24 x 24 each.  I did a watercolor underpainting first on Uart paper.  In this one the daisies are reaching for the light. In the other painting of the pair, the daisies are in more shadowed area with blues and turquoise. I really do enjoy painting larger but it is hard to store them so I don’t do it very often.

‘On the Way to Yankee Boy Basin’                       8×10               pastel

Today I had a chance to paint another scene for my Colorado Wildflower series. We took a jeep ride up to Yankee Boy Basin at the height of the wildflower season. It is something I always wanted to do and I wasn’t disappointed. There was one section of the road where the meadows were covered in these blue purple flowers. It was breathtaking! I managed to snap some photos as we bumped along in the jeep! This painting is 8×10 on Canson paper.

‘Daisy Chain’               8×10              pastel

I have been working on new wildflower paintings in preparation for my upcoming workshops in Asheville, NC for the Appalachian Pastel Society. I am excited to share some of my thoughts and techniques for painting meadows and wildflowers in the landscape. This 8×10 pastel is done on Uart paper with a watercolor underpainting.

‘Summer Blues’                          8×10                    pastel

I had fun in the studio today working on a commission of a tree in a meadow. It is 16×20 and it has been awhile since I worked larger. I know that isn’t very big at all but when you paint small 16×20 is big! I do like it though and wish I did it more often. Today’s painting is the hydrangea still life I did earlier this week. I loved using those wonderful blues and purples! I did a value underpainting with an alcohol wash for this painting.