This project focuses on understanding light direction, value shifts, and the subtle temperature changes that make flowers look dimensional and alive. Through step-by-step demonstrations, you’ll learn how to blend warm, glowing petals with cooler, supportive shadows to create balance, contrast, and visual harmony.

What You’ll Learn

• How to use complementary colors to enhance vibrancy instead of flattening it.
• Strategies for painting clean, luminous shadows when working with orange and other high-chromatic hues.
• How to see and interpret the direction of light so your petals look dimensional and natural.
• Building depth through controlled wet-into-wet layers, rather than adding more pigment.
• Understanding value relationships—the real secret to strong floral painting.
• How to avoid muddy results by managing water-to-color ratio and pigment choice.
• Techniques for blending warm light into cooler shadows for a realistic and expressive finish.

Project Focus

Vibrant Orange Floral – Light & Shadow Study
You’ll paint a warm, glowing flower that challenges your ability to create crisp highlights, transitional midtones, and rich shadows while keeping your color fresh and alive. This is a deeply rewarding lesson for painters of all levels.

Skill Level

• Advanced Beginners: Strengthen foundational value skills
• Intermediate Artists: Improve color mixing and shadow control
• Advanced Painters: Refine dimension and nuance in complex complementary palettes

Perfect For You If…

• Your shadows often turn muddy or dull
• You want to master values, contrast, and depth
• You struggle to keep bright colors clean while adding form
• You want to paint more realistic, dimensional florals