The Sunflower By Jude Tolar, Pastel Color

I painted Sunflower Power en plein air on a sheet of aubergine ColourFix sanded paper. Sunflowers look golden only where the light shines on or behind the petals. Elsewhere they’re a mix of darker and cooler colors. Purple in the shadow areas can enhance the gold. The local color of the flower petals is a yellow-orange, but is a more lemon-yellow where the flower is washed out by light.

My sunflower palette includes values that are light to medium for the petals and dark for the center. I selected yellows and oranges (for the areas of warm light); cool red-violets, cool purple, golds and browns (for the cool shadows); intense orange (for back-lit glow); a cool gold (for the outer-shaded parts of the petals); and a dark red-brown (for the flower centers and crisp edges).