When Summer Calls Back

It was one of those days. Rain hammering the windows, wind shaking the garden, the sky a flat uniform grey. Not the kind of day that makes you want to go outside and look at flowers.

So I went back in time instead.

Last summer I photographed a zinnia in my garden — one of those outrageous, unapologetic red ones that seem to glow from the inside. I’d been meaning to paint it for months. On that grey April day, I finally did.

“When the rain falls outside, I paint the sun back in.”

The painting is 40×40 cm, my favourite square format. I started with a loose, colourful background — teal, green, hints of warmth — letting the paint move without too much control. The golden flowers inside were the most meditative part. Small, repetitive, almost hypnotic.Then came the petals: bold, sweeping strokes of red and orange acrylic, building up the form layer by layer.

The oil-based charcoal came in as it always does for me — adding depth, defining edges, giving those rich dark marks that stop the painting from feeling too sweet. I love how it sits on top of dried acrylic without smearing, how it gives you something between drawing and painting.

Then the wax crayons: Sennelier oil pastels and my Carand’ache Neo Art sticks. These brought a delicious grainy texture to the petals and the background — warmth you can almost feel.

The golden inner florets were the most meditative part. Small, repetitive, almost hypnotic. By the time I’d finished them, the rain had stopped.

I don’t always paint from photos — I prefer direct observation when I can get it. But sometimes a photograph is a memory made visible, and painting from it is less about copying and more about remembering: the warmth of that afternoon, the hum of bees, the way the light made the red almost too red to be real.

That’s what I was chasing here. Not a zinnia. A feeling.

Materials used in this painting:

• Acrylic paint (various brands) in following colors
  • Azo Yellow medium
  • Pyrol red
  • Sienna
  • Turquoise geen lt
  • Turquoise blue
  • Titan White
• Oil-based charcoal (Cretacolor)
• Sennelier wax oil crayons
• Carand’ache Neo Art crayons
• 40×40 cm stretched canvas

You can watch the full painting process on my YouTube channel. And if you’d like to explore stamps, stencils, or digital papers for your own mixed media work, visit my shop at beagrob.com.

Watch the video here