Frozen Light - Background Technique

When I looked out my window last fall and saw the giant sunflower my family and I had planted wilted over and covered in fresh frost, I knew I wanted to draw it. It was so warm and so cold, the details so fresh. 

I'm always looking for ways to challenge myself as an artist, and I've known for years that my greatest weakness is my attention span. I struggle to take the time to really nail the picture. I find myself rushing at the end of a piece because I'm so excited and anxious to finish it. When I took this reference I knew I found one to teach me that lesson in patience. 

So it's pretty obvious from my work that I love fine details. I even get obsessive. It's another reason this piece spoke to me: I saw the frost as a challenge and a new subject for me to explore. Having never captured frost before, it made me nervous, but I believe it was well worth the effort.

With this piece, I started in photoshop, blocking off the background, blurring it, and darkening it to bring the details of the sunflower out. Then after I finished the initial sketch, I decided again to start with the background. 

Whether I start with the background or not depends on the subject. I generally prefer to start with the background. Then when I move to the subject. When I draw the subject against a white background, it's easy to get the color wrong as the stark white of the unfinished background make some see it differently.. When I draw the subject against a finished background, I can better see the colors and values. I also, in the case of this drawing, like to save the best for last. Now, I don't always stick to these guidelines. I'm an artist. I jump around in my chaotic fashion, but this drawing really benefitted from drawing the background first. 

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I found a new love with this drawing: Derwent Colorless Blenders. Love them. I used them slightly in past drawings, but with this one, I think I used up almost my entire stash. I found that if I wanted to blend down to darker, I could use the Derwent Blender. If I wanted to blend a bit lighter, a blending stub worked wonders. I also used white to blend to a creamy fade and push the background back visually so it wasn't so saturated. 

I'll be honest, by the time I was done with the background, I didn't know what to think. In the past when I've done blurred backgrounds, I started with the subject. This time was different, and I wasn't entirely sure how it would turn out. It worked out really well in the end because I "cut" around the white with the dark background colors. It made it really enjoyable when it came time to put in the details of the flower itself. I really enjoyed working the whites back into it and defining the edges of the flower, and I feel it really payed off. 




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"Frozen Light"
10.5" x 13.75"
Faber-Castell Polychromos on Arches Hot Press Watercolor Paper, 640gsm.