Art Nouveau Stained Glass Window With Thistles Coloring Page

Two thistles grow up through an arched stained glass window on this sheet, and the arrangement does something clever. The window behind is drawn in tall plain lancets with a band of pointed tracery across the top, so it reads as a quiet grid. The thistles in front are all texture, with shaggy bracted heads above ribbed bulbs and long leaves cut into deep spines that reach out to both edges. Charles Rennie Mackintosh used the thistle this exact way, as a spiky subject set against calm geometry. Color the window first and keep it restrained. A pale wash in the lancets and a slightly deeper tone in the tracery is enough, because the window is the backdrop and not the subject. Then let the thistles take every bit of saturation you have. Purple heads over gray green bulbs is the true combination, and the spined leaves look best with a darker tone pushed into the notches. Leaving the lancets white and coloring only the plants is also a complete answer here.