Directors Award

"Summer Elegance" won the Director's Award at the Fountain City Art Center Member's Show.

I had originally called it Queen of Hearts but the name never felt adequate for such an elegant flower.

This is the painting I started in January for the Dogwood Arts Festival not realizing the entry deadline was only one week away!

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.

Progress

You will notice that I have started more detail work on the leaf in the left foreground. I also had to do some light scrubbing to get the correct shape. I was paying close attention to the shapes of the petals and forgot to do the same with the leaf.

Hope!

I like to believe there is still hope for this painting! Each one I have worked on has reached this awkward stage. When I began working in watercolor I would have been tempted to throw this under the bed BUT I have learned that if I push forward one step at a time I usually end up with a finished piece that I am happy with...usually.

This shows the yellow washes on the leaves. I used New Gamboge in the foreground, Aureolin in the background.

Showing some of the detail added as underpainting. As I add washes these will blend in somewhat and be less noticeable.

Close up of leaf detail. The colors are not as intense as they appear in this photo.

The Chosen One

The process didn't take very long. After mixing and mixing and mixing some more I had begun to think that I didn't have the right colors to come up with a close enough match.
I tried to achieve the glow without using Opera but in the end I pulled out the trusty Winsor Newton Opera and mixed it with a small amount of Daniel Smiths' Quinacridone Rose and voila!

I am very happy with this combination and have already started laying in the first washes.

I will post those tomorrow.
Zelma

Competition

In my last entry I said that the "pair of pears" would probably be my next painting but things have changed. There is a call for entries to the Dogwood Arts Festival here in Knoxville so...I will be working on a full sheet painting  of a gorgeous, pink peony. The photo was taken by Diahn who is not only a fantastic artist but is also a great photographer AND she was nice enough to give me permission to paint from her photo. Thanks Diahn! 

I rarely add shading to my line drawings after they are on the watercolor paper but this one is a doozy! All the delicate curls and flips of the petals. Yes, they are a part of what drew me to the photo in the first place but they are already proving to be quite a challenge. So, I added some shading just to be able to distinguish one from the other. My next step will be to erase most of the graphite leaving only faint lines as my guide. After this I will be choosing my pinks and putting paint to paper. 

The deadline for the competition is February 20, 2009. Four weeks plus a week for framing, let's see if I can pull this one off!

Zelma