Iris Progress

This paper is truly a challenge to me! I am used to working on Arches 140lb CP and this is very different. I like that I can lift and lightly scrub. On the other hand, I am not used to having to do either. I need to work on this paper more.

It's coming along...

New Year, New Projects!

I hope everyone's new year has gotten off to a great start.

My first new project for the new year...The Purple Iris I painted a few months ago. This one is much larger at 10 x 14 and more detailed. I am working on Arches 300lb HP.

I will be back soon to post updates.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Iris

I love these Iris and their purple color!

They grow in my yard and I have intended to paint them for several years but have never taken the time...until now.

Fresh Start

I missed a very important step in this entire process. I always enlarge my reference photo in sections so that I can have a better understanding of what I am trying to convey to the viewer. For some reason I didn't do that until a few days ago. Needless to say I spent a couple of hours lifting and scrubbing so that I could get to a place where I could have a fresh start.

We have several inches of snow which is the most we have seen in 10 years or more so we went out for a while yesterday checking on family members but today I plan on staying inside and spending some extra time on this painting. Thanks for stopping by!

Whew!!!!

Here is a shot of the progress I am making on the crystal vase of roses.

Whew!!!!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing

everyone

a very

Merry

Christmas!

"Spring Cascade"

Finally "Spring Cascade is finished!

I have to say I learned so much from working on this painting. When I chose the photo for this I thought, "How difficult can painting white flowers be, I've painted them before?" That was my first mistake, they aren't white but the softest blush of pink. 

My favorite part was and still is the way the buds cascade from the top down the left side of the painting.

"Spring Beauty ~ Revised"

This is the revised version of the Rhodie (below) that had the brick wall as a background. After scrubbing the bricks I layered Winsor Violet then Cobalt and Winsor Yellow allowing each layer to dry before proceeding to the next.

Finally I dripped color (including some opera and rose madder) and let it run while I held the painting upside down. I also took some of the WV and darkened some of the shadows on the petals, added some highlights to the leaves and lost some of the edges.

I am not sure if this shows on your monitor but the main color of the background is Winsor Violet which seems a little too blue in this photo. I will live with this for a few days and probably end up tweaking it a little more.

I still plan to paint this on a full sheet at some point AFTER I finish the crystal vase of roses.

Have a great day!

Coming Along

Another update on the pale pink flowers of "Spring Cascade."

I have worked on the values and adding color to make it more lively. I am still not happy with the shadow in the center flower but I will work on that over the next few days.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Ugly Duckling Update

I think I may have over reacted...just a little...ok...quite a bit.

After scrubbing my deep, purple shadows and areas of the rose madder wash, which I liked when I first applied it, I walked away and thought about what I wanted to accomplish and how I wanted the flower to look. The advice I was given was well intended but it was not my style to paint that way. Now if this will work with the other shadows I think this painting will be worth framing!

The Ugly Duckling

Here it is...the ugly duckling! This painting is at that terrible stage where I would just as soon throw it away! I am not going to of course but I have thought about it. 

I was given advice to have nice, strong shadows at the same time I thought maybe some should be stronger than others. I chose to go against my gut feeling and painted all strong shadows. I should have listened to myself and then if it wasn't right I could have darkened them.   

I painted a wash of rose madder over the flower on the left (with the arrow pointing toward it) and was not happy since I want the flowers to retain the white in the petals. If you look closely you can see that I have begun scrubbing heavily on the flower to lift much of the damage I have done. O well, as a wise friend of mine said, "Art is also about learning."

I Can't Help Myself!

This painting will be, as I mentioned before, a painting of a crystal vase and roses. Both the vase and roses are my mother's. The roses are from a bush she planted about 50 years ago.

I know that I should be working on "Spring Cascade" but I had been thinking and sketching on this for about a week and I just could not figure how to draw the cuts in the crystal.

Tuesday was my day to stay home and paint or draw. I had planned to paint but I can't help myself, I couldn't get the crystal out of my mind. I needed to solve this problem! I sat down to draw and came up with the 1st drawing to the left.

It looked ok until I stepped back and looked at the whole drawing. The cuts are much too small for the size I have drawn the vase. The vase is actually much shorter than this but I wanted to make an impression and to fill space so I decided to make it taller which means that everything has to be elongated.

After studying the vase by sight and touch, I came up with what you see in this photo. I still have to work on "seeing" how the cuts appear as they curve around the vase but I am to a point that I can put it down and finish work on the painting...I think.

If anyone has advice on drawing crystal PLEASE feel free to share! Thanks!

"Spring Cascade"

Yes, it is another painting of pink flowers but I promise it is the last of the pinks...at least pale pinks...for a while.  I started this painting, "Spring Cascade," before becoming so involved in the peony painting. 

The next painting will be so much more involved than this. It too has flowers, red roses and a crystal vase. I am looking forward to the challenge of painting all the detail in the glass.

Ruffled, Yellow Iris

Here is the progress on the ruffled, yellow iris. This painting is about 10x14. The smaller paintings are completed much faster which is a nice change from the full sheet paintings. 

Here I go again...

This is the line art for my next painting. I never thought much about painting flowers but here I go again. I have painted some portraits and a few still lifes, which I love to paint, but I seem to be on a roll with the flowers.

This is on a quarter sheet of 140lb. Arches watercolor paper which is what I use most of the time.

I still have to adjust the petals in a few places. In the main photo I am working from it is difficult to tell exactly how some of the petals curl, so I am studying several photos to determine some of those correct shapes.

Glorious Morning

This is one of the first paintings of flowers that I completed in watercolor.  I love the way the morning light filters through the flowers.

More on the peony next week.

Have a great weekend!

Everyone's Wearing Pink!

Finally every petal has at least a basic form and each one is wearing pink in one shade or another.

Next I will be adding more detail to the leaves and will begin on the background.

Slow and Steady

I am almost there...well, as far as having pink on all the petals that is. In places I have added Alizarin Crimson and some Winsor Red each mixed with Opera to start the detail process.

The Careful Plodder

I am plodding along, trying to branch out to the more difficult petals across the top of the painting. 

I've added some Alizarin Crimson to the darker Opera/Quin Rose mixture and it is giving me the deeper values I needed.

I've also begun some detail work on the heart shaped, yellow center.

Leaf Detail

This photo shows the steps I have taken in painting the leaves. I still have quite a bit of work on them.