California Poppies

California Poppies

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

Each California poppy is a solitary flower on a long stem, with four petals and colors ranging from yellow to orange.  The foliage is blue-green in color, described botanically as glaucus, meaning "bluish-grey or green".  The petals close at night or in cold, windy weather and open again the following morning.  The poppies begin flowering in February.  The California poppy is the official state flower of California and native to the United States. 

There's nothing like painting a subject to make you observe it much more closely.  I hadn't studied California poppies close enough to notice that there are four petals on each flower and the color of the leaves are blue-green.  While I was working on this painting, I wanted a warm gray/black background color. I was having a hard time mixing the color, so I pulled out my color charts and found that Viridian and Cadmium Red Light make a beautiful warm gray. ( I've added my color charts to my blog below for any artists who are interested.)