Iris and Tulips, 12 x 12

Charcoal lay-in

Underpainting before alcohol

Underpainting with alcohol

It’s another lousy day and there will be snow on Thursday. So I went out and bought flowers this morning–this bunch of iris with large parrot tulips and pink tulips that I hope will open up.  It’s nice to have the excuse to surround yourself with flowers in such dreary, cold weather!  These were tall and in a tall vase, and I thought about doing an 18 x 24, but I just couldn’t see doing such a large flower painting!  So I decided to stick with the 12 x 12 boards and just do the top.  I liked the way the tulips draped down over the vase, giving a more interesting composition.  I started with charcoal and used a brush and water to set it. Then I used my Holbeins alone for the underpainting. These go on nicely and they aren’t too soft, so they work very nicely with the alcohol. Plus, there is a nice array of colors. For the shadows of the tulips, I used a combination of a warm green, cool green, dark orange, and some violet.  The light part is a number of different yellow Schminckes.  The Giraults don’t do much on this surface (Art Spectrum liquid primer).  So I stuck to pretty soft pastels throughout, occasionally using a Girault to smooth out the color. For the iris, I started out with various red violets, then added magentas, pinks, and oranges to liven them up.  Painting flowers doesn’t come naturally to me!  More detail and fuss than I normally like to deal with–I like big shapes and flowers have lots of little shapes!  However, it IS fun to do them from time to time, particularly now.  Hope to get a third one done during our Thursday snowstorm then have them for the opening at the studio on Friday night.