Psychedelic blooming flowers
Week 25's colours are Pastel Lime, Lavender, Bubblegum Pink & Sky Blue
Floral Fusion starts in a week’s time, I’ve chosen colours from an artwork by an artist known for his psychedelic stylised floral, plants and figure forms. If you’re still wanting to sign up to this three week long online course, take a look at this blog post where I shared feedback and student outcomes from when Floral Fusion first ran in 2024.
Peter Max (Finkelstein) (1937-) is an American artist born in Berlin who became one of the most recognisable figures in pop and psychedelic art during the 1960s. His distinctive style features vibrant colours, cosmic themes and flowing organic forms that captured the spirit of the counterculture movement.
Max's family fled Nazi Germany when he was young and they lived in China, Israel and France before eventually settling in Brooklyn, New York in the mid 1950s. He studied at the Art Students League in New York and began his career in commercial art and illustration.
He had his artistic breakthrough when he designed the flyers for the second be in gathering in Central Park, a hippy even that was held after the city’s 1967 Easter Parades, and his psychedelic posters and artwork became synonymous with the Summer of Love.
Max’s artworks often incorporated celestial imagery such as stars and moonscapes in bold, saturated colours: blues, reds and yellows and he became famous for his Cosmic series and interpretations of American icons, including multiple portraits of the Statue of Liberty and other patriotic themes.
Other works included album covers, including for The Beatles (the Yellow Submarine movie and album art + others) and his art appeared on everything from postage stamps to cruise ships. He's also known for painting on unconventional surfaces and for large-scale public artworks exhibited worldwide. Commissions include major sporting events such as the World Cup and the Olympics.
Max still lives in New York City where he sadly suffers from advanced stage dementia.
Find out more about the artwork on the cruise ship the Norwegian Breakaway, there’s a short YouTube documentary here which shows a great selection of his works and you can view his official website here.
“Blooming Flowers”, serigraph, Peter Max, date unknown
Colour Combination
The chosen colours this week are Pastel Lime, Lavender, Bubblegum Pink & Sky Blue. Use the colours along with a contrasting dark and neutral light colour if you wish. Create an artwork in any medium or style.
I love seeing what you’ve create. If you’re posting on Instagram, please tag #coloricombo and #estemacleod and join us in the private Facebook group Creative Prompts.
Floral Fusion
This course has three modules, each dedicated to specific mediums and techniques within a specific style and era. We’ll be producing work all kinds of fabulous floral artworks in Floral Fusion. It’s running for the final time from 30 June to 20 July and is brim full of projects linked to floral and botanical forms. Don’t miss out, it’ll be amazing.
If you’re a contributing subscriber, your 25% discount coupon follows.