Thursday, July 27, 2006

Painting marigolds





Marigolds
8"x10"
oil on Masonite

SOLD












Marigolds
No. 2
6"x8"
oil on canvas board
still wet but
give it a week


This is the story of two paintings of marigolds. Marigolds are my favorite flower( I know I say that about every flower) but I love the brilliant color, texture and most of all the smell.

The first painting I like better because the neutral greenish gray background helps highlight the brilliant orange flowers. I also like the way the light comes through the glass. Tricky brush work in this one that I wish I could say just flows onto the canvas. The truth is I struggled to make it look right and most times struggling with paint only produces .....ugly paint. This time the gods of practice were looking the other way and it worked.

The second painting was a challenge from the start. The photo here is actually slightly darker than the original painting. What a difference trying to paint clear glass with a nearly white background. I settled on a more impressionistic look than what I originally intended. (Is that what we call artistic license?) These margolds are much more featherly than the others. I don't think I did them justice.

This is a painting challenge I need to come back to again... remember this one: Glass with white background and intense color object.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok, your second painting of marigolds reminds me of Van Gogh. Was that your intention? I know you wrote you thought it was more impressionistic. I think if the background were darker, the glass would have become clearer and given you the sharper image you were going for. But I like the Van Gogh style!

Vivienne said...

I absolutely love this painting....I found your blog from a link on Darren Maurer's blog. I look forward to seeing more of your work.