Art Nouveau Woman In Profile With Poppy Wreath Coloring Page

Alphonse Mucha built his posters on exactly this pose, a woman in clean profile with her hair turned into ornament. Here she faces right, her hair falling in long wavy ribbons of separated strands all the way down her back, and a wreath of small flowers and leaves circles her head. The real subject is the gown. It runs from a high collar down past the bottom edge of the sheet, and it is embroidered all over with big open poppies on curling stems, the blooms getting larger as they fall toward the hem. The size difference across the page tells you how to work it. Start with the largest poppies at the bottom, because they will set the tone everything else has to match, and a strong red or a deep coral is traditional and hard to beat. Carry a lighter version of that same color up through the smaller embroidered sprays so the gown holds together. Hair is the one place to be patient: work along the strands rather than across them, and leave the highlights white. Keep the skin barely tinted so the profile stays clean.