Calling all painters! Help me reproduce this painting.

March 14, 2022 12:37 PM

I am in love with a crazy expensive, out of stock painting at Anthropologie. All you painters out there: Can you help a complete novice pull off a replica?

Here is the painting. Any ideas on how one might go about replicating this style of painting? I don't imagine that it would take an incredible amount of artistic skill... it seems like it would be more of a question of knowing how to create the art based on a process or technique. Maybe I'm wrong though.

posted by uncannyslacks to Home & Garden (25 answers total)

I mean I'm not sure how ethical this is but you could get a screenshot, put it into Adobe Photoshop or a similar type of software, use the software to get the exact paint color code, project an image of this painting up onto a blank canvas, trace the pattern from the projection onto the blank canvas, and use the paint sample color swatch to get some paint custom mixed for you or you could just mix it yourself to your taste and make a replica that way. Various versions of the above could be done.
posted by erattacorrige at 12:41 PM on March 14, 2022 [2 favorites]

From the link, that looks an awful lot like a very simple kind of printmaking process - I cannot for THE LIFE OF ME remember the name of it right now, but you have a piece of pre-treated paper and you lay it out in the sun with some kind of thing on top of it, and the paper reacts with the sun and the shaded portions and creates a kind of white silhouette on a blue field.

(Someone PLEASE remember for me what the name of this is, it's the kind of thing you can do in 5th Grade science classes and I am having a mental block)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:46 PM on March 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

Cyanotypes. Searching that might get you some shopping results that would be a close enough match to fit the bill.
posted by CheeseLouise at 12:52 PM on March 14, 2022 [7 favorites]

Cyanotype is what Empress Callipygos is thinking of., but I don't think that's quite it.
posted by Coffeemate at 12:53 PM on March 14, 2022 [3 favorites]

YES, Cyanotypes!

Yes, that was what i was trying to think of. You could buy an existing one, or - make your own even.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:53 PM on March 14, 2022

The ground pigment is Cerulean Blue, red shade. It's probably watercolor or maybe egg tempera. The use of watercolor is mat and dense, with blended white in the ground for tone variation. The leaves and branches are drawn in over the top with white, fluid paint, probably titianium in acrylic, gesso or fluid formula paint. The body color in the leaves is probably Cobalt Blue or maybe a heavier application of the Cerulean Blue, red shade.

It's not easy-peasy to line draw in such a confident, beautiful way. It takes a lot of skill.


You could copy this by printing out a large size copy on heavy water color paper and tracing over her marks in painted media. The pigments will be much more vibrant than a print out.

I hope this is helpful. It's a nice painting. Happy painting.
posted by effluvia at 12:59 PM on March 14, 2022 [8 favorites]

I would paint the nuanced blue background in acrylics, that part doesn't look terribly hard because it can just give off the same general impression without being an exact replica. Use at least three shades of blue, and a large brush; make it look uneven and textured by rubbing with a crumpled-up cloth, or press the cloth into the paint, or apply some of the paint with the balled-up cloth. Experiment a little.

Then, if I could draw, I would draw the branches on top of that in thin white marker, and then fill them in partially with a slightly darker blue Sharpie (much easier than paint and a paintbrush unless you are skilled with that).
If I couldn't draw, I would project and trace the branches. Same same: thin white marker, then blue Sharpie.

I do agree that this is fairly simple, but not at all easy, the painting definitely took skill and a good hand to make and it's very nice.
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:04 PM on March 14, 2022 [5 favorites]

I would personally approach this by doing a resist technique—get a white prepped canvas at an art store, do your best to copy the leaf pattern with a colorless or white crayon, then paint over it with a few shades of water-soluble blue paint, filling in the leaves with a darker blue.
posted by music for skeletons at 1:06 PM on March 14, 2022 [9 favorites]

It is expensive, but not sure about sold out ... the site let me put the painting in the basket and start the checkout process.
posted by cyndigo at 1:17 PM on March 14, 2022 [2 favorites]

I would start with a smaller canvas to nail the technique of a single olive branch and only try the final size when I was confident about my procedure. My way would be to gesso a sheet of Masonite, doing a few coats and sanding in between. I'd use artist's tube oil paints to paint in all the blue tones, including the darker shading of certain leaves before using something like a popsicle stick to scratch in the branches, etc. Oils are more hassle than acrylics but should stay wet long enough to easily scratch away back to the white of the gesso.

There was discussion of print technique above that had me thinking that you could do this as a mono print - painting it onto a sheet of glass, scratching out the details and then laying/rubbing down a sheet of paper to lift the colour.
posted by brachiopod at 1:30 PM on March 14, 2022

I would also suggest the resist technique suggested above, but in a slightly different way. I'd start with a thick but smooth watercolour paper instead of a canvas. Canvas can have a weave texture that may interfere with your drawing. Watercolour paper is cheaper, so you'll be able to buy a few sheets of it and take a few tries at the design to get it exactly how you want it. Sketch out your leaf pattern with a light blue pencil, go over that with a clear wax crayon, then fill in the blue with water based paint. Do a few tests of the wax drawing and blue painting first so you can see how applying different amounts of pressure with the wax affects your line quality, how different amounts of water in the paint affects the colour, and how applying the paint with different tools (brush, sponge, rag) affects the texture. You can totally do this!

Also, you can cut your experiments into smaller rectangles, fold in half and use them as greeting cards.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:55 PM on March 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

I like the idea of achieving a similar effect with cyanotype. As pre-treated paper in large sizes is expensive, and I personally find mixing/applying the emulsion messy and frustrating (and you'd still have a spring for a nice piece of rag-based drawing/etching paper), I would go with a pre-treated fabric like this one (1 yard by 56" wide is just US$22), which can be wrapped around and stapled to snap-together wooden canvas stretchers or a pre-made blank canvas. Use any foliage you like to expose the print, and if you want linear elements like the original piece, you could trace/embellish a white fabric paint pen after the image is processed.

If you go the painting route (well-described above, though I'd add that the background texture is probably best achieved scraping slightly different tints of blue overtop one another with a metal palette knife or even a plastic spatula) and don't use white paint pens or sharpies, you'll want to use what's called a script or liner brush (a very thin brush with long bristles) to do the line work, and you'll need to thin the acrylic until it's quite liquid—water will *work* to thin it, but I would use a liquid acrylic medium personally.

Also, in my experience (10 years teaching university drawing to students with no discernible innate talent), with a bit of focus and minimal practice, anyone can make a nice line drawing of a plant. Like, houseplant drawing was my go-to exercise with visiting high school students because everyone could produce something sufficiently decorative in a 20 minute session.
posted by wreckingball at 1:56 PM on March 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

She's an interesting artists that I had never heard of. I did a quick look at her work out if curiosity and it looks like she does a lot of painting on textiles. Which is what I think this is.
posted by ljesse at 2:04 PM on March 14, 2022

I like Too-Ticky’s suggestion. Start with the darkest shade of blue and add white. Use cheesecloth to blend/blot. For the white marker, POSCA is your best bet. It also comes in several shades of blue but I think it’s better to continue with your blue paint and a smaller brush. A blue marker will probably have an undertone that will just look “off”.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 2:12 PM on March 14, 2022

You could try finding a stencil of olive tree branches
posted by gt2 at 2:20 PM on March 14, 2022

i could add to cart -- as i see now someone else said.
posted by melamakarona at 2:32 PM on March 14, 2022

Consider instead getting a Cyanotype print from Public Domain Review.
posted by Ahmad Khani at 2:44 PM on March 14, 2022 [4 favorites]

Get a piece of MDF board in the size you want. Get a frame to fit the board. In fact, get the frame first. Then cut the 1/4"-3/8 inch board to size. Or buy one prepped for art. Take your phone with the image to home depot. Pick out a small can of the darkest blue and a small.can of white. Set up to work quickly. Put on the blue and rub white into it to effect the background. Use an xacto knife to etch in the drawing. If your pre-treated board is white underneath, the drawing will be scraped into existence.
posted by Oyéah at 3:57 PM on March 14, 2022

As others have said, this does not actually seem to be out of stock at the moment. It also appears to be a print, from what the website says, specifically a giclee print.
posted by gudrun at 4:48 PM on March 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

I can't edit my comment but wanted to be clear i think its a Print (or Giclee) of a painting she made on fabric.
posted by ljesse at 7:08 PM on March 14, 2022

i paint with oils and came here to say what brachiopod said. oils on ground, scratch out leaf motif. do a sample first. could be a monoprint, but that adds an unnecessary layer of complexity. people that have never used tthem seem to sometime have an idea that oils are more difficult than other mediums.. i think its the opposite , and i think the satisfying “painterly” look of the cobalts and ceruleans layered atop one another at the bottom of the anthropology thing is either due to the original having been in oil or having been made in some other process designed to mimic traditional oil painting.. so .. tldr , another vote for oils. try them youll love them : )
posted by elgee at 9:16 PM on March 14, 2022

A fairly fool proof way to get that blue painterly background would be with liquid acrylics (golden fluid acrylic is a great option)and a big fluffy brush on a fine-weave canvas or linen paper. The leaves could be painted on with a white ink marker if you feel your hands aren’t steady enough to freehand it with a brush. Just make sure you’re using products marked as archival so it doesn’t simply fade out in a year or two.

And if you end up using oils, don’t do it in an enclosed space please! The fumes are bad news.
posted by Pemberly at 1:30 AM on March 15, 2022

I think you could get a prepped canvas and knock this out in a couple hours tops. Go to an art store and have them help you pick out some acrylic paints to match. Since it dries quick and is opaque you can just paint over it until you like what you've got.

To draw the branches, you can use a grid copy method (grid on the picture, grid on the actual piece, copy square by square) or a mini projector to trace the lines. I personally would make a printed template in Photoshop but that might be challenging if you don't have and / or know how to use the program. Yes to Posca pens for the white bits, then fill in with dark blue.
posted by ananci at 4:44 AM on March 15, 2022

Everyone has good ideas, but this is NOT an easy task. Obviously, it depends on the quality you are going after, but if I were you, I'd look and see if the print comes back up for sale.
posted by mumimor at 12:10 PM on March 15, 2022

Best answer: Why not commission a real human painter to produce what you want, for example from the Chinese city of Dafen, where they have been doing exactly this sort of thing for decades?

(For fascinating background on Dafen, how it came to be, it's rise, fall, and rise again, I enjoyed this 99% Invisible podcast episode.)
posted by seasparrow at 7:04 PM on March 15, 2022 [2 favorites]