A poppy does not last. It flowers for a day, maybe two, and then the petals drop at the first strong wind — which is the most interesting thing about painting it, because you have to be quick.
There are two open flowers here and two buds. The upper poppy is tilted and is losing a petal, which hangs below the calyx. The lower one faces the viewer directly, with a dark grainy centre and a ring of stamens. The buds are still closed, wrapped in a green sheath, on stems covered with stiff hairs — I paint those hairs one by one with a dry brush, because without them a poppy looks like a tulip.
The background is painted wet on wet: greens and pinks soaked into damp paper and spread on their own, without drawing. That keeps the flowers sharp while everything behind them stays a suggestion of a meadow rather than a description of one.
I built the red of the petals in layers, from pale pink to saturated carmine, leaving the white of the paper where the light falls. In watercolour you do not paint white in — you plan it and go around it.
Watercolour on Saunders Waterford paper, 28 × 38 cm. An original work, a single copy, signed, with a certificate of authenticity.
PRICE — 350 PLN