June 16, 2016

Loosening Up the Flower Painting

I started working on a new cut flower painting today -- trying to stay loose.  I haven't brought any good additional objects into the studio to make a better composition, I may do that tomorrow to see if I can both make the painting looser and more interesting.

June 15, 2016

Cut Flowers

Last week for the art walk, I brought in cut flowers to paint during the evening.  I started out with a venetian red-toned ground, expecting that I was going to paint something that would serve as a companion to the flowers I painted the previous week.  The clematis, hydrangeas and roses didn't agree with that plan -- their colors fought the background. As I worked on it, the toned ground went from venetian red to peach to taupe to the final color, a warm beige with areas of cooler color.

For the months of July and August, my work will be on our large gallery wall in the studio, and the show of work will be called Cut Flowers.

June 3, 2016

flowers from my garden - updated

I'm setting this aside to think about this.  The flowers are long gone, so I'm really working from my thoughts about how the light & color might bring focus to different areas of the painting.  I've toned another canvas the same venetian red and will be picking flowers from my garden tomorrow to start a new painting.  Below is how it started.


Working on a painting of flowers from my garden (except that sunflower -- it was from an arrangement).  I brought the flowers into the studio, along with some ants and such.  They were fresher when I started and I'm sure that the droop in the oak leaf hydrangeas will make them fade beyond painting tomorrow.  The flowers are: rose campion (which I grew from seeds years ago and keeps self-seeding), oak leaf hydrangea, nikko blue hydrangea, lonicera vine and tradescantia.  

I started this with a background of venetian red on the canvas and I'm really liking it.  I think it's going to stay.  I'll still be working on this even after the flowers are gone, but I'll have to use my memory to figure out how to finish this next week.