Sunday, December 20, 2009

Daily Painting Practice - Still life with flowers


An artist needs to be flexible. I don't mean, able touch your toes flexible ( I haven't done that since I was eleven years old), I mean flexible enough to begin again.

I started this still life of flowers in a brass bowl a while ago but never felt comfortable with the way it began.  So I started over on a larger canvas and with a looser brush and more color.


My favorite still life artist of all time is (Henri Fantin Latour). I am trying to keep Latour's loose brush work in mind as I proceed with this painting. My attention is focused on the the white peony in the center. I am trying to work from the center out remembering that the star of the show should be supported and not upstaged by any other object.




click on the painting to enlarge the image
Simple Splendor
work in progress
22"x28"
oil on canvas
From this point on my goal is to make sure each brush stroke has meaning. Each stroke should reveal a small part of the entire story of this painting...
Hopefully it will have a happy ending.

3 comments:

Vivienne said...

It's an incredible piece of work. You remain one of the finest flower painters I have seen, it's by far the hardest of all disciplines in painting.
Happy Christmas
Vivienne

Celeste Bergin said...

I like that you share your disgarded one with us too. Gives us all hope!

Nicole MacP said...

Beautiful painting, I love your improvements! I could spend a lot of time just looking at this!