STORY BEHIND THE ART OF CARRIE DI COSTANZO

Wildly Exquisite: Florida’s Native Plants

Southern Magnolia

Magnolia grandiflora

There is a park not far from my home that has a lovely collection of trees. This magnolia tree is from that park. I had painted it before during the fall, when the flowers were gone and the seed pods appeared. This time, the flowers were in bloom, so I spent several hours sketching the flowers. Photos were also taken and color studies were done. I took the sketches home and arranged them in different compositions. When the composition was finalized, I redrew the Magnolia on a large sheet of tracing paper.

My thought was to paint the white flowers on a background with color, so I began to experiment with acrylic and found that I could paint the entire background first with a very large brush, and then paint the flowers over it. Although I found the acrylic to be challenging as the paint dries very quickly, the effect was exactly what I wanted. Acrylic allows the artist to paint over mistakes and change values and colors after the paint dries, so it is very forgiving. Once the background was painted, the drawing was transferred and ready to be painted. The reference photos, sketches, and color studies were invaluable as the painting progressed.

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Read more about this artist’s work: 22nd Annual