“Painting a series of withering giant sunflowers is one of my favorites recently,” says watercolor artist Soon Y. Warren. “The inspiration was instant when I saw withering sunflowers in late October in Portland, Oregon. It was an overcast day and the atmosphere was somber. The tall stems decorated with dried, droopy leaves barely hung on until the last strong wind to knock them over. The huge distorted disk with some leftover seeds was a feast for the birds, and the thin new shoot had flowers with a final little tint of yellow to show the tenacity of life.
“I knew I wanted to paint a circle of life. It seems to end but it is a new beginning.
“To start the painting, first I studied and chose one of my reference photos. Instead of painting a dark and moody feeling, I wanted to add colors to give a life to the overall picture plane. I drew with a pencil, paying more attention to the patterns of the disk. I masked the highlights and washed the entire paper with light gray. Then I started to layer colors to bring out the elements of the painting.”
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Additional Still Life Paintings by Soon Y. Warren
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