I did the rough-out of a painting I've been promising my niece for about a decade but felt I needed a warm up before I could dive into it. A couple of days ago Dennis shooed one of our resident triplet fawns away from my favorite rose bush so I decided to cut some for us to enjoy before they disappeared. They were on our breakfast nook table in a blue glass vase and since all I wanted to do was stare at them and breathe their sweetness I decided to paint them. This was bold decision. Flowers, especially roses, are hard to paint (for me anyway) and they only behave for a day at most before they droop and fade and you can't figure out why that shape you thought you'd nailed doesn't seem to be there anymore. BUT they were SO pretty...and so I began. Here's how it went:
Keep it loose...find the big shapes...define the color scheme ( complimentary: yellow-violet). Was SO happy to be painting again! Lunch, siesta, and back again...
starting to get droopy!
Got to stop. I'm SO tired. I can see that the flowers don't have enough change in value to give them any volume but I have no more energy and the light is totally different. I set the vase outside hoping at least the bud, which is my focal point, will still be recognizable in the morning.
Next day. I painted for a while before I remembered to take any photos. Got some darker tones into the blossoms and juiced up the background, defined some of the leaf structures.
I feel pretty good about this knowing that in a couple of weeks, when it is dry, I'll take another look and probably do some glazing and brighten some highlights. I'll post again when it's finished. In the meantime there's that other one I started... and I feel braver now.
1 comment:
What a treat to sit down at the computer this morning and find your wonderful "diary" of a painting. It continues to amaze me that anyone can make something so beautiful with paint--and to have the process described step by step adds to my enjoyment.
So glad you're back!
Joy
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