IRIS

 NOTES

Always loved the deep blue, leaning against purple of the iris.
Yet it seemed a difficult flower to paint. Vincent v. Gogh changed my mind. 
If I recall correctly, he has at least three paintings with irises in them. 

The blue-purple combined with green is not much see in paintings in general.
A good reason for an artist to dare commonality!

But how does one fill a square canvas with a mainly vertical shape? It looked kind of bare and stilted. Then I got an idea to put in the background 
as if it was wind moving the petals...and the rest is history. .





~*~

FOR EASTER

Fragrant Gardenia 24 x 24 inch Oil, St.Germain

Notes

Gardenia is one of my favorite flowers because of its fragrance. 
Sometimes I wish that the flower would be bigger.
I got my wish in my painting (24 inches big!)
As you can see, I layered the colors around its edges, 
so it would not look like a cut-out.

Wish for you a great Easter with nice weather:)

BEAVERDAM

Beaverdam, 12 x 18 inch, Pastel, St.Germain

NOTES

Even though I had a photo, I had to make decisions about a number of things 

Color-wise:

My decision was to play up the yellow, red and green  colors

All the other colors had to fit around them.

It still made for a serene painting, because

there was still quite a bit of white and shades of gray

Design -wise:

It may work great for a photo, but for a painting 

it's kind of tricky to have three "horizons" on top of each other, in an oval frame!

 I lowered the bottom part  so I would NOT have the beaverdam 

cutting through the middle of my paper!

About Focus of Interest:

I had to choose what would be most important for me in my painting.  

I didn't think the grey reflections would pop, 

when there are so many colors in the surrounding areas 

- unless I would paint only part of this scene. 

I lowered the bottom part, so I could have the beaverdam  

and the reflection of the trees (not seen in the scene) as the focus of interest.

original pic of Becky and Gary at woodynookcreations

Did my painting decisions change the mood of the original photo?

What are your thoughts on it?

THE LATE BLOOMER

The Late Bloomer Oil, 24 x 24, St.Germain

NOTES

Not intended to imitate Georgia O'Keefe! But just came out this way... 
a wilted rose on my table kept in this position for longer than a week
so I decided to use my 24 x 24 inch canvas that I didn't know what to do with for a year.
(nothing is cropped off the painting)
It was like the lid was blown off
of something I did not know was in me
and I painted 14 more flower paintings
all 24 x 24 and a few 24 x 30 inches.
That was a few years ago. 
I called them my Celebrity Collection.
Lately I've been feeling inklings 
to do a few more:)

ANGEL OF THE MUSIC ARTS

24 x 30, Oil, 

NOTES

Okay with me if you don't believe in angels. You can still enjoy the painting:)
But to make my intent clear, this is an angel of music and worship unto God. 

- On top of the left sleeve are different kinds of flutes  
- on  upper right sleeve are paint brushes.
- included ballet slippers for dance and a banner or flag, for artists who do flag work. 
One time I saw a guy dressed in a white shirt and black pants 
in his twenties (?) handling 4 white shiny flags at once -it was pure artistry! 
- for the story on the flutes, 
go to main blog page at end of weekend January 14 (click on right side bar Mysteries)

THE POINSETTIA TREE

18 x 36, Oil, St. Germain

NOTES

- Still need to put in place finishing touches, here and there. 

I call this my poinsettia tree, 

a variant of the tree that is decorated in this season. 

Three colors  of this plant is all I could handle:)

- The Christmas balls were an afterthought. 

Decided to add them after one of my friends imagined the balls

in the Christmas tree to be gifts.

All you had to do, was grab 'em!  Thought that was a wonderful idea for life.

Go ahead, get any gifts being up there - they're there for the taking!

WHAT AM I PAINTING ?  Find out  around Dec. 24....