This past July I attended a two-day workshop at the NRAS taught by Michael Klein.  He is an extraordinary oil painter, known for his dramatic oil floral paintings. 

I took this workshop to learn from an expert how to approach painting florals. His approach is quite straightforward.  He spends two days on a single arrangement, and always paints from natural light. He paints one bloom and half of the painting the first day, and finishes the remaining blooms and the rest of the painting the second day.  Since the flowers may change dramatically over this time, he doesn't go back and change the updated arrangement.  

His paints the background and tabletop using muted colors.  This allows him to 'pop' the flowers in color. 

Here is a photo of Michael starting his first day demo:

Below is his half-finished painting. Stunning I believe.  Unfortunately, he didn't finish it on the second day.  Instead, he started another demo for us to illustrate several unrelated points. He is an excellent instructor. 

I wish I had such a lovely painting to show for my efforts!  Unfortunately, I painted a pitiful arrangement in a vase on the first day.  It was boring in all regards. Technically I was able to paint the rose, but I was very unhappy with the overall painting. Moving on to the second day, I thought I would try a different approach.  I took one single rose, put it in a vase, and attempted to paint only it.  This allowed me to focus and get feedback in the area of expertise of Robert (painting the blooms), instead of battling drawing or composition issues.  I wanted to get to the 'heart of the matter', so to speak.

Above is the result of my morning effort. A single bloom of a white rose on an 8x10 canvas.  

For the afternoon, I rotated the flower and painted it from another angle.  This single, white rose was quite challenging but I am happy with the results. 

I am considering doing a series of single blooms on an 8x8 canvas.  It will be fun to paint the whites, pinks and vibrant reds.  And won't I feel special buying a rose from time to time?