Still Life - Flower Painting

In this lesson, Alain will teach you how to paint a flower in a jar using soft pastel to create a loose, impressionistic still life. As he demonstrates, Alain will show you how to use underpaintings to bring excitement to otherwise dull colors. You’ll also learn how to suggest detail by using bold, painterly marks to reveal form and lost and found edges. Get ready to paint along with Alain as you create an elegant single peony in a jar.
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[@AlainPicard]

So, what about you? Do you have a favorite flower that you love to paint? And if so, what challenges do you have with this subject? Let’s keep the conversation going!

[@mjpete27]

Yep Still Tulips! I love the different colors and striations too!

[@Cocothebastard]

Meconopsis.

[@170166]

After watching this I think I may have a go at a lily flower, once they come out that is. I wanted to ask, do you go through your colours and pick out the ones you are going to use before you start to paint?

[@sman7099]

Alain, I see you do such beautidful work with soft pastels. Do you ever use, or have you tried, oil pastels? I got a set but I'd love to see something from you with these.

[@judiburnett6527]

Love the finished flower. Thanks for the trip.

[@momo13102]

Amazing you are talented Alain 🎉

[@writingtheblackhorse]

You are so funny! Thank you! Love your work!

[@victorialewkow5730]

Certainly not the boring old flower painting. Really like it. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[@dianegreveworthington9676]

I was always intimidated with drawing a peony - Allen, you made it look so doable. Thank you

[@AlainPicard]

You are very welcome Diane!

[@mohamadelgiar618]

Wow beautiful paint

[@AlainPicard]

Thank you so much Mohamed!

[@moyke3]

Great info!

[@Ppzinha]

It turns out very diferent of what I pictured and that´s the magic!

[@letsdrawwithmanya1328]

Amazing 😮😮

[@arabellahorwitz2622]

I love it!

[@victorialewkow5730]

Love it! Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[@bk50587]

As always, so amazingly beautiful.

[@sakshibansal6202]

Speachless 👏👏 ss

[@AlainPicard]

thank you Sakshi, I hope that's a good thing!

[@altasomolivsage]

MY favorite flower hands down.

[@vanvalkenburgh101]

Wow, loved watching this. It was a perfect chill-out before Christmas Eve festivities began for me!!

[@tuxedoneko9837]

Gorgeous! Can't wait to try this.

[@AlainPicard]

Thank you Ann, really glad you enjoyed. Have fun!

[@marcyshannon2607]

WOW! Shapes and wonderful values. Thank you.

[@AlainPicard]

You're very welcome Marcy! Glad you enjoyed.

[@Alexter0617]

Hi Alain, thank you for the beautiful painting and the inspiring teaching! This video gave me a lot to mull over and test in my practice :-)

[@jeantemplemeyer366]

Thank you for the great painting and videos.

[@jmeetze8]

Thank you Alain. This was a treat to watch. Love your painting and teaching style.

[@AlainPicard]

Thanks so much Janette, glad you enjoyed!

[@ThomasFrancisAugust]

Hello Alain: Great lesson love the way your videos illustrate how a pastel picture is created.

[@davidengler3094]

Can't wait to try this one Alain. Amazing how a neutral palette can be brought to life.

[@AlainPicard]

Thanks David, I'm excited to see how your efforts turn out! I love this palette, glad you do as well!

[@maldoori238]

Thank you Alain for a wonderful video. I enjoyed watching your work and technique. It was indeed very informative.

[@lowen838]

Inspiring! I’m committed to improving my painting of water, so loved how the jar turned out. Also, appreciated your comments on creating an impression of petals - I can see them! Merry Christmas 🎄

[@leena7588]

Love this 👍🏼

[@hildegardbohmerschildt8307]

Wow fantastic flower 🌸 🌸🌸

[@sharonadams8490]

Stunning painting. You are a treat to watch, Alain.

[@AlainPicard]

Awww, thanks Sharon, that's so kind! It's a joy to share with you. Have fun in the studio!

[@bobbeaudry3283]

Gorgeous and vibrant!

[@AlainPicard]

Thanks so much, Bob, that's kind!

[@gerriekaychurch658]

Really beautiful!!!!

[@dech4548]

Oh this was yet another great instructional video! And to add the cherry on top my favourite subject, a simple still life. Its fun and whimsical and beautiful all at once! I’m definitely going to watch this again then get to my easel to paint! Thank you once again for the inspiration and clear instructions on how to proceed with this!

[@AlainPicard]

You are very welcome Christine, I appreciate your feedback! Really glad to hear that you love the subject, and I'm so glad you'll be creating your own real soon! I'm rooting for you!

[@janeoneill6334]

This helped me so much . I have peonies in my garden & so had such failed attempts to paint them . Now I know what I was doing wrong! Thank you!

[@TimtheRedBot]

Stunning drawing!💖👍

[@AlainPicard]

Thanks alot TIM! All the best

[@dianahall1166]

Alain. Beautiful process lovely result. Thank you.

[@AlainPicard]

You're very welcome Diana, thanks for appreciating! All the best

[@mikeh7935]

What a treat for the holidays to see you do this painting. Peonies are HARD.... so many petals... And, as always, you make it look SO simple. The end result is awesome! Thank you for sharing your gifts!

[@AlainPicard]

You're very welcome Mike! Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@debbymorris1426]

This style of painting fascinates me. The results are stunning!

[@AlainPicard]

thank you Debby, i hope it helps you develop your work as well!

[@robindurso6911]

Love this video. I’m just getting back into painting. I feel I have forgotten so much. You work is so inspiring! Thank you.

[@ARTYCOATY]

This is fantastic! The best artwork. I love your art. 🌸🌼🌸🌼

[@AlainPicard]

That's very kind Hagru, thank you.

[@ChillAndSmile]

🎨🖼👨‍🎨💞Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience. You are my favored artist, truly grateful for your demos. You helped me so much, thank you🍃🍂🍁🌺🌻🌹

[@AlainPicard]

Aww, that's very kind of you to say. I am so glad to inspire you! I am rooting for you as you develop your artistic work!

[@miguelesteinmetz6019]

Thank you so much your paintings are so inspiring!!!

[@AlainPicard]

You're very welcome! Glad you enjoyed the video

[@jonnawyatt]

I did not want this video to end. So enjoyed it.

[@AlainPicard]

Thank you Jonna, glad you enjoyed it. Your turn now!

[@jonnawyatt]

@@AlainPicard I will give it a go. Thanks.

[@ivynewport5537]

Absolutely gorgeous Alain! I’m about to attempt a little still life. This was so inspiring and insightful. Thank you. 🙏

[@AlainPicard]

I think we can safely say at this point that you are an avid pastel lover and artist! Isn't it the best?

[@Amethyst260]

Thank you for painting one of my favourite flowers Alain.......the peony! I grow them in my garden in Wales. Such a beautiful painting, as always! I love that it was just one in a jar rather than a bouquet in a vase! As we say, 'less is more'! Enjoy the rest of the holiday season with your lovely family xx

[@Amethyst260]

ps I'd love to see you paint primroses in the spring........I love the delicate translucency of this beautiful pale flower that loves to hide in the shadows of woodland and on grassy banks. x

[@christiekeele1382]

LOVE this!

[@AlainPicard]

Thanks so much Christie!

[@j.p.7914]

👍🏻👌🏻👍🏻👌🏻🍁🌻🍁Thanks 👌🏻‼️Amazing 👌🏻🍁🌻🍁

[@AlainPicard]

Most welcome 😊

[@kkuryla1]

Alain thank you! A very lovely Christmas present. Excellent video, great info and beautiful painting! Merry Christmas & Cheers for a wonderful New Year. 🌺🍎👌

[@1Thedairy]

A very informative art demo and the results were beautiful. Something to look forward to trying after all the Xmas festivities are over.

[@suzannepalumbo7177]

Love this!

[@AlainPicard]

Awesome thanks Suzanne!

[@sueanderson7386]

Today I bought some Sennelier pastels...love your peony painting. Thanks for your teaching, it really helps me know where to start!

[@AlainPicard]

You are so very welcome Sue! Have fun painting!

[@azong98]

So beautiful! THANK you

[@AlainPicard]

You're very welcome C C! Glad you enjoyed.

[@a_numbers_girl7025]

Beautiful!

[@AlainPicard]

Thanks so much Victoria!

[@rubysaleem7269]

Brilliant

[@AlainPicard]

thank you very much!

[@christineessler3632]

I love to paint pansies - working on their various expressions and the rich colors; I have trouble rendering glass, water and the stems. This lesson was a great help. And I have to learn not to reach for colors in my "head" such as green for leaves. Overall I had my doubts, but you pulled it off again! Thank you and Happy Holidays!

[@barbarascott1774]

Thank you so much for this one brilliant. Thanks for all the tips really would love to try this .

[@denisegrossman3840]

Bravo, beautiful! I love chrysanthemums and asters. However, I find that painting flowers are rather challenging for me. Perhaps, because its hard to suggest its shape. After, viewing this wonderful video, its possible that my past frustrations will be alleviated. Well here goes! Can not wait to get started!! What a good detour, from all the cooking, this beautiful Christmas day. Just what I needed to energize me! Thank you, for so many precious morsals of information. What a gift! Merry Christmas!

[@tzieg9534]

Fantastic, love it! I haven't tried flowers yet, but you give me inspiration.

[@AlainPicard]

That's what I love to hear, that you are feeling inspired to try something new! I hope you really enjoy it. All the best!

[@KelliFolsomOilPaintings]

Amazing pastel!

[@AlainPicard]

Thank you Kelli, you are very kind! Your work is beautiful, all the best!

[@djdk9309]

Fantastic . learned a lot from this video. Thanks.

[@AlainPicard]

Awesome, so glad to hear you learned alot! Keep going

[@suzypastel5206]

C’est superbe bravos bravos 👌👌👍👍😘

[@AlainPicard]

Merci beaucoup!

[@1000geroz]

Hermoso trabajo

[@grlfromtx09]

wonderful video! one of the best I've seen and I enjoy your commentary so much - very helpful, thank you! ^_^

[@dyb252]

Never before seen this type of work... Waoooooo sir no words... Amazing👍

[@dyb252]

O my god... You reply me thanks so so much... U r amazing👍

[@NAVINARTSTUDIO123]

Very good fantastic painting

[@AlainPicard]

Thank you very much Navin Art Studio!

[@mousumibhattacharjee633]

Your voice alone is so relaxing ❤️

[@AlainPicard]

Peace be with you! I'm glad you found it relaxing, now I hope you paint as well!

[@mousumibhattacharjee633]

I am learning so much from you. I wish to learn more. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.

[@beatrizdiniz4028]

Amazing! Thank you so much

[@AlainPicard]

You're very welcome! Keep painting!

[@emmwen4549]

WOW!

[@elizabethbarnes2339]

So cool, thank-you.

[@AlainPicard]

You are very welcome Elizabeth!

[@irener1892]

Learnt so much from this tutorial. Thank you!

[@anindyaupadhyay7254]

The red underpainting: masterstroke

[@jennifermichelemarus3101]

Hi Alain! Great to see you back again. I love flowers. Remember green and pink are my favorite colors so I was wondering if you can do a pink rose pasteldrawing with a nice fresh green pastel color stem🌷?

[@tmikeporter]

Roses and hydrangeas are my favorites.

[@marie-suzannealtzinger2044]

HI Alain - greetings from Ireland. I've recently discovered your videos and I love every one of them! You are such a talented artist, and you make it look so easy (which I know it's not). I've ordered some new pastels (I was missing a lot of soft light tones) and they are due to arrive tomorrow or the next day. After that, I'm going to let rip in my kitchen (which serves as a studio during daytime). Thank you again, and keep up the great work.🙏

[@AlainPicard]

How kind of you, thank you for your note! Enjoy the videos and all my best to you on your pastel journey!

[@KillerCheese]

great painting!

[@AlainPicard]

Thank you very much Killer Cheese!

[@AlainPicard]

It was great to meet you Sunday!

[@KillerCheese]

@@AlainPicard you too!

[@ramonasmith257]

I’m excited about this study as I have such a passion for peonies! I don’t do flowers well, though. Here’s my question: what is the purpose of the underpainting and on what occasion do you use it?

[@dr.phil.szilviarad1076]

great help, thank you :)

[@AlainPicard]

Glad it helped! All the best

[@reneekroyer5104]

Hi Alain. Thank you so much for this video. I learned a lot. I am VERY new at pastel and I am trying to paint my sister's favorite flower for her birthday next month -- a bird of paradise. I would love to do it in a loose fashion as you did this peony. Have you any videos of a bird of paradise flower? Thanks again, love to watch you paint.

[@barbaravannipasi2612]

Bellissimo video, bellissimo quadro. Grazie. Ci sto provando; ho provato pera e mela, riguarderò ancora il video e proverò anche questa peonia! Grazie. Mi sarebbe piaciuto partecipare ai corsi online ma oltre ad essere disoccupata, parlo solo italiano e approfitto, quando posso, della traduzione automatica di KZbin che ti lascio immaginare quanto poco sia corrispondente, così per il momento mi accontento di quanto trovo qui. Grazie , adoro i tuoi lavori e quello che insegni.

[@mjpete27]

Alain, i watched the video completely before commenting. I think the picture works as a finished piece. I have trouble with deciding when I should change from my reference. I used to only use black and white photos and I did not get hung up on colors with my watercolor paintings. I find I want an impressionistic approach to my pastel work but I am struggling with when to use certain colors! You hardly used a green! and so much of your under-painting still showed through! I am in awe of your mark making but I am a bit discouraged, Is it just time? Just experience? Thank you for this wonderful gift of the single flower painting. I will keep watching and looking for tips for my own improvement.

[@AlainPicard]

Hi Michael. don't give up! Mark-making gets better with practice, keep at it and I believe you will see results. You're right, I did neutralize the green in this painting, I just felt the pink and gray were the real hit colors and didn't want to detract from that. But I did use one green in there! I have become more comfortable over time with allowing more of the underpainting to show through. I enjoy the visual effect. But it did take me time to get there, so don't be discouraged! Just keep painting and you'll soon see improvements as you look back on your work. I wish you all the best!

[@paultaylor1756]

Hi Alain, I love your work and your teaching methods are so encouraging. I have problems with Pastelmat always curling up. Please, can you recommend a way to get it to lay flat? I know that mounting it would work, but this just adds more expense to an already expensive paper.

[@mthomas1800]

I love this! I am a beginner to pastels. Is the under painting in watercolour? Thank you. 💕

[@AlainPicard]

Thank you so much, glad you enjoyed! I did the underpainting with soft pastel washed with 91% alcohol. All the best!

[@flooklh]

Thanks for a lovely vibrant painting. It really is stunning. I'm going to try something like this. Did you use alcohol wash to cover over the initial pink pastel?

[@mjpete27]

He uses alcohol in many of his under-paintings you can see more on his other videos, The Uart sanded papers take the alcohol very well.

[@AlainPicard]

This was 91% isopropyl alcohol. You are very welcome!

[@gerriekaychurch658]

How does one know what color to choose for the under painting?

[@annmariegraham2699]

What is the name of you sketch book you use for you thumb nail sketches?

[@AlainPicard]

I use the Strathmore 400 toned gray and toned tan sketchbooks they are great.

[@a_numbers_girl7025]

Will this study be available to purchase on you website?

[@AlainPicard]

Hi Victoria, congratulations! I'm so thrilled that you will own this special painting! Enjoy

[@a_numbers_girl7025]

@@AlainPicard I am very excited to own this beautiful painting! It is one that I am sure to enjoy for years to come.

[@gerriekaychurch658]

Is this substrate a board of some kind?

[@AlainPicard]

UART 400 Sanded Paper mounted to 3/16" Gatorboard

[@gerriekaychurch658]

Oops! You just answered my question in the video

[@AlainPicard]

Glad to hear it!

[@MrJairo3259]

Rose petals are more dificult.

[@AlainPicard]

You may be right Francisco, I've painted roses too, they fold open in a more deliberate way that needs to be described. The peony is fuller. But each has it's own special quality. All the best!

[@deniskomoda6423]

Not really still life painting is it?

[@tusk242]

Great effort to reach people by NOT SHOWING them mainly a TRACING, of a Wild animal and how to paint the Fur. I seen it too many times Trace and transfer then how to Paint the copy. ART Galleries object to displaying Realism. Saying it is just a good copy work, or nothing more than Illustration work, Even though a lot of abstract goes into creating, and some still shows when done. as in Robert Bateman's work. 60's all color theory , light dart went out the door . In Russia and some other Countries students Learn at a very early age the anatomy , the architectural Design of buildings, While in USA our students are still finger and blow painting, splatter, or drip paintings on to a somewhat portrait . I seen some pod casts and one was in water, which looked Dead, as if been found in area of slugged. One was in black and looked also DEAD, as with all these Slice marks with the brush, as if the person would have used a Knife and slice if they had one. Sort of like the woman who just recently Stabbed the 3 year old boy in the FACE AND BODY. Others take a brush to Drip, Splatter. and then slap on a few flat colors on the face. As if they really did not like the person or of themselves, the inner feeling is not one of really respect, but to destroy . THIS is how I see much of today abstract.. THINK in NY one lady is seen going around pointing out the beauty of Realism, but noticed through out , it was not at all REALISM , but someone interrupted idea . While you can see the realism around the gallery, but she never chose one of them. They treat as if GODS Creation, other than human, wildlife , the flowers , trees. butterflies. I use to ask people what was their favorite bird., and they say " OH, after a bit of thought , I LOVE ALL BIRDS." and I know they do not ,when they complain about the bird poop, or being awakened by the 4 am Robin singing. or the same sound of a wren, not realizing it is the call to get their young out of the NEST

[@Coco2345ful]

Too much pink showing through 1

[@jodiroman4521]

Beautiful!

[@AlainPicard]

Thank you Jodi, so glad you enjoyed!