Friday, August 12, 2011

Daily painting practice- Composing and painting peonies

Unlike my oil painting,  I have not changed anything in this arrangement for my attempt at watercolor.  I can't it's watercolor!!!! However, I did not attempt a background, and as you know, that is where  I usually begin to fall apart and change my  paintings. Nor am I  going any further with this study. It's a good first shot at watercolor and I think it is a better idea to leave it alone with that feeling.  So as unfinished as it is I'm going to say it's done.
I had a lot of strange lessons with this watercolor. I kept loosing patience and wanted the detail to just "appear" so I could move on to the next section. When that did not happen I almost lost it, in fact, I was so impatient I quit  painting the flowers and  mixed a big puddle of dark  color and just wiped in the jar. I guess the lesson there is sometimes you just need to act and not think too much because I finished the jar in about 20 seconds.
After deciding to quit on the watercolor( I taped it to the door) I went back to the oil painting. Some of the comments I had in the previous post on this painting were very helpful. Especially the ones that mention the need for  leaves. Peonies  have such interesting leaves. The painting didn't feel real without them, so I  went out to my garden and  cut some  peony branches (the flowers have long since died.) I set  some up in the same vase and  will use them for reference.
 White Peonies - work in progress
20"x20"
oil on canvas


This painting has really been a struggle. There are moments I feel things are working fine and there are more moments when I paint over the entire  flower arrangement and start again. (can't do that with watercolor!)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Meaning of creation: The act of creating. The fact or state of having been created. The act of investing with a new office or title.
I can read these definitions in every dictionary, but I still can't understand how to do this...
See this blog, I think you'll like it: Drawings Paintings Prints, this person shows the stages of the painting but I still don't know how to use it so I ca use it at mine...
Will come back for sure.

Pamela Shadle-Flores said...

Wonderful blog! Love how you share your thought process and problem-solving.

R said...

I only read 1 post before posting this comment and I already like your blog :) It's hard to find such blogs.