If I told you we would be painting a red tulip, what color would you have in mind? All the tulips in the photo above are red–red with a tinge of white, red  with a tinge of yellow or or red with a tinge of deep with dark burgundy wine. If you were a writer, I would tell you to be more specific when you said the color “red.” I’d give a painter the same advice.

Look Carefully
See Specifically
Say or Paint Definitively

Anything less than that should not be called an authentic expression. It is simply the same old, same old, same old stuff.

In this post, I will begin to break down some of the important things to know about tulips.

Although there are exceptions to this rule, most traditional tulips have 6 petals–3 outer petals and 3 inner petals.

Because of the inside/outside nature of tulip petals, there is a great deal of overlapping and therefore, a great deal of shaded area:

The stem usually seems to be cupped by at least a pair of tall, leafy blades.

 

In the above photo, you see a two-tone tulip. It is both red and yellow. That is tricky.

Red Hibiscus
Jacki Kellum Watercolor

While I often highlight a red flower with yellow added to the light area,

the yellow in the above tulip photo is not attributable to light. The yellow is an actual color.

A Photo of Red Tulips all one color

u

The light areas on all red tulips is much more subtle.

When more light is shining on the red tulip, the patches of light are a bit more intense.