no. 8 flat • no. 16 flat
Thicket • Fresh Foliage • Dioxazine Purple • Wicker White • Violet Pansy • Yellow Light
1. Create a Tone-on-Tone background using Butter Pecan and Wicker White. Let dry. Double-load Thicket and Fresh Foliage on a no. 16 flat. Place the tall stems and the smaller stems branching off. Paint long thin leaves at the base of the stems starting on the chisel; touch, push down on the bristles and slide, then lift back up to the chisel.
2. Double-load a no. 16 flat with Dioxazine Purple and Wicker White. Occasionally pick up a little Violet Pansy on the purple side for variation. Stroke in the buds with three or four side-by-side comma strokes. Add a little tail to the largest bud with Yellow Light and Wicker White.
3. Double-load a no. 16 flat with Dioxazine Purple and Wicker White and stroke the three back petals of the open blossom.
4. With the same brush and colors, paint the lower petals using a shell stroke for each petal.
5. Double-load a no. 8 flat with Yellow Light and Wicker White and paint three yellow stamens in the center of the open blossom. Go over the middle stamen with Wicker White. To finish your larkspur composition, add four more open blossoms below the two buds on the right. Before painting the stamens, shade the centers if needed with chisel-edge streaks of Dioxazine Purple.