I'm Ready for SPRING!!!

This is the third Sunday in a row with miserable weather and a cancelled class. So I decided to have fun and work with some color! I have a small bouquet of flowers that I decided to paint. I brushed Art Spectrum liquid primer (clear) onto a 12 x 12 piece of 8-ply mat board, then did a charcoal lay-in. For the underpainting I used a combination of Holbeins, which I’ve had since 2003 but haven’t used much lately, and some Caran d’ache hard sticks (very hard!). The Holbeins worked nicely for the underpainting. I’m showing it here before and after the alcohol so you can see the colors. I really wanted to keep this painting loose. I don’t like painting flowers highly realistically. (I love the abstracted floral paintings of Deborah Stewart and would love to do something more like what she does!) For this small painting, I tried to gesturally express the darker and lighter colors. My biggest problem was the shape of the cast shadow, which changed many times. (Still not particularly happy with it, now that I look at it!) I used a combination of cool greens and magentas to express the color. Also used a mix of cool greens and pinks/oranges in the background. Used my Terry Ludwig “vibrants” set a lot in this one. I’ve always had a hard time working with cool reds. Where the light hits them, the color is quite vibrant, but if you use a lighter cool red, it looks dull. You have to go to a warmer orange, but then it doesn’t look like the color! So I had to give up and just use my instinct and knowledge of color theory to try to make it work. I LOVED doing this little painting! It was good to work from life and use a mix of both observed and intuitive color. I also loved working on my textured surface again and being able to brush color over color. This surface doesn’t hold as much pastel as the sanded surfaces, but it’s great to work with and helps loosen me up. I have 2 more boards prepared. Not sure what I’ll do next. Hope you are enjoying your weekend. Looking forward to 63 degrees on Wednesday, even if it is to rain!