Day 30 of 30

Whites

8 x 8

Acrylic

This is another subject I have painted before but I wanted to do it a little bigger and practise again with the whites. This is my little cheater of the 30 in 30 painted ahead of time as we are off to ski for a day or two.  It's been a great month with much accomplished and learned along the way.  Thank you very much to Leslie Saeta putting on this challenge.

Day 27 of 30

Bachelor Button

8 x 8

Acrylic

Designs in nature can be so astounding.  Which is more stunning, the beautiful long blue petals, the little magenta florets or the receptacle?

Day 24 of 30

Sunflowers

8 x 8

Acrylic

Flowers to brighten up a grey and dam day in the middle of winter.

Day 22 of 30

Alstroemeria

8 x 8

Acrylic

My favorite flowers I'm not sure why but oddly enough I was more drawn to the vase which is clear glass and has no color.

Day 3 of 30

Orchid Study

8 x 8

Acrylic

Well I learned two new things with today's subject - I am no better at painting orchids than trying to keep them alive and I'll finally put this idea out my project book and secondly trying to blend in acrylics is frustrating and I need to save this kind of application for oils.  It would have been better just to layer.  But this is one of the benefits of the challenge is to take projects off the back burner and either work on them or move on.

Waving the White Flag

Day 19 Poppies

6 x 6 

Acrylic on canvas

Well things went sideways today, my poppies got so tight and finicky looking,  didn't like the design or the hues and so reworked and reworked and in frustration finally just started slopping on the paint!  Lo and behold now I am starting to enjoy myself and I'm liking the looser look.  However dropping the final piece on the floor and smearing the white final touches right across the piece nearly put me into a frenzy.  Enough, just photograph and move on.  Many lessons learned today including when to wave the white flag! 

Spammed

Day 18 flower

6 x 6

Acrylic on canvas

Seems I'm getting spammed from Korea so I've had to turn back on the word id in the comments window.  Another flower which is a subject I find hard to paint.  My approach is too tight and I must learn to loosen up on these beauties.

More value studying

Day 17 flower

6 x 6 

Acrylic on canvas

This started off being another value study in greys but I just couldn't do it to a flower so had to add a little color.  I started off mixing grey from French Ultramarine blue and Burnt Sienna to have a warm background and then went to cool greys with French Ultramarine blue, Permanent Rose and Phthalo Green but didn't like them so added a little azo yellow to warm them up and then somehow went into pastel colors.  Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

Birthday flowers

Pinks and Greens

12 x 12

oil on canvas

The weather has turned cold again so I stayed inside today and painted this birthday bouquet.  I'm starting to enjoy painting this subject!

Painting what I think I see...

Gloria's Bouquet
12 x 12
oil on wrapped canvas

Two subjects I think I know well but cannot seem to paint easily are flowers and landscapes. What ends up on the canvas is nothing like what sits before me and I have finally discovered that I have to focus very hard with my eyes on all the shapes, hues and values instead of letting my hand paint what my brain thinks the subject should look like. Now that spring is here I should get lots of practice. This beautiful bouquet was a gift to a very special friend who gave me a push to get back to the easel and I will be forever grateful for her support.

Back in the Saddle

Christmas Flower
12 x 12
oil on wrapped canvas

Too long a break over Christmas and the result was three wiped canvases. In a slump I decided to read instead and picked up Robert Genn's "Twice Weekly Letters", a treasure of inspiration. One passage in particular struck a cord and reminded me that success was usually hard won with persistence and so I tackled for a fourth time this flower painting. I tried very hard to look and paint what I saw instead of what I thought it should look like and the result I am happy with. Flowers aren't easy for me and I did spend a little too long and picked too much but learned a lot on this project. Happily painting again!

Poppies

6 x 6

oil on door skin

So I started was I thought would be an easy project - what could be easier than flowers. My first mistake was approaching it like a paint by number filling in the individual areas with appropriate color and my second mistake was using smaller brushes for a smaller support. When I finally got frustrated over how long it was taking and I picked up bigger brushes and started applying largers strokes of luscious color then the fun began. Alas it was time to wrap it up and some day I'll try this one again hopefully with much more abandon and looseness.