Poppy #4

It's a case of when to stop - I had another go at a poppy painting - I put in a bit more work in the flowers themselves - they look more three-dimensional, and I'm quite happy with them. But I overdid the background. I had started with a green background, given texture with a clingfilm effect. But I was finding that there wasn't enough variety in tones - everything was mid-range. So I decided to apply a layer of blue/purple on top, scratched with a painting knife to show the green through. But now I have too much tonal contrast- the background is too dark and it doesn't look natural (but I like the swirling movement). Just as well I took a picture before I painted over the green. At least, I still have that. And it works well as a Picasa collage! I think I'll try again, maybe with a fairly plain blue and grey background.