A Little Something About Backgrounds

 

There are probably hundreds of options when choosing a background for a floral, a still life, or a portrait.  There are so many things that you can do - or not do.  

1.  The first thing that you can do is to leave it alone - that is, no background.  Sometimes when you finish painting your subject, you know that you feel that it is perfect just as it is, without a background.  This is fine.  Many floral painters do flower portraits without a background.

2. A flat wash.  Three of the above paintings have a flat wash for a background.  The tulips have a traditional flat black wash.  This always makes the flowers pop.  I did this with several layers of Permanent Alizarin Crimson + Thalo Green (Winsor Green).  It requires a paper that can take a lot of layers.  

3. The tropical leaves and the calla lilies have flat washes, but I also used something called "breakouts" where the subject "breaks out" of the background onto the white paper in several places.  This is fun to design.

4. A veriagated wash.  The magnolia is a good example.  I used blues, greens and pinks for this one.  It makes it look like there are other things growing in the background.  The Rhododendrons also have a variegated background, but done in such pale colors that they barely show up (although they are more visible in the actual painting).  

We will try some of these other backgrounds in future classes.