Dressed for Spring

After a week filled with snow and sleet, I am definitely ready for Spring!  My head knows that somewhere under the slush and muck a transformation is on its way, but my heart could really use a reminder.  Here it is...

I pass by this home on my morning run and when the azaleas bloom I am in awe.

 I chose a cropped, square format to minimize the house and emphasize the sunlit coat of blossoms.

There's surely no better garment with which to be dressed for Spring than a sunlit coat of blossoms :)

Dressed for Spring, 6x6 Oil, (available)

Framed:

Azalea Glow VII

Azalea Glow VII is actually my tenth (and largest!) white azalea painting.  Each time I paint a white azalea I think, "Okay, that about does it for me."  And then something draws me back again.  

This time, it was the desire to create drama on a large scale, so I challenged myself to express the glow of the delicate blossoms on a 2' x 4' canvas.  Not an easy task, but It turned out just how I had hoped (which definitely doesn't always happen!)  I'm especially happy with how the strength of the values and shapes work equally well with either bright or low lighting.

Here are some of the steps in my process, starting with the original photo,

which I cropped to create interesting shapes around the flowers ("negative space").

I sketched a simple 4x4 grid to help with my placement of major shapes.  I usually use a soft pastel pencil for this stage because it wipes off easily.

Using transparent paints, I established my shapes.

After the paint dried, I covered the background greenery with a transparent blue/yellow mixture.

After the first layer dried, I added another layer and this time painted the areas of my flowers that would be shadowed.

At this point, I started in with opaque paints, keeping layers thin and adding nuances of warm and cool colors.  And, voila!  After a mere two weeks my painting is complete!  

Here's Azalea Glow VII, 24x48 Oil:

For size comparison, here it hangs at Waverly Artists Group next to two 18x24 paintings and several framed 6x6 minis.   Please stop by if you're in town!

 

Azalea Glow II

On my easel right now is one of my favorite subjects - white azaleas.  It's been on my easel since before my week-long vacation and yet the paint fairy still hasn't finished painting it.  Must I do everything??  :)

Below is a photo I took that inspired a white azalea painting that did get finished.  One of the things I enjoy with these large blossoms is the "negative" space that is formed around the azaleas.  In this photo I was drawn to the shapes made by the two flowers at the lower right. 

I chose a square canvas because it allowed me to crop the image in a way that emphasized the blossoms and the interesting shapes that surrounded them.

In my painting, I stayed faithful to the composition of the cropped photograph because it had a wonderful drama to it.  Where I diverged was in my palette, allowing the glow of nearby colors to spill through the translucent petals with more intensity than the camera captured.  The subtle color shifts are what give these white flowers such a soft feel.

Azalea Glow II, Sold

20x20 Oil

Now back to the blossoms on my easel....

Geranium Joy

To me, one of the many joys of summer is the eye-popping color of the brilliant red geraniums that always grace our front steps.  Somehow the colors seem to get more and more vibrant each year!  The little painting that I'm featuring this week is based on a photograph provided in a great workshop I took in Kentucky with artist Dreama Tolle Perry.

 I started my painting on a smooth 6x6 panel and sketched the basic shapes with an orange-red because I wanted some of that color to peek through in the finished piece to unite the painting with the geranium red theme. 

Using Dreama's technique, I quickly covered the whole canvas with transparent colors mixed with a fairly glossy medium.  Since I use a palette of only three transparent and three opaque primary colors, I mixed the colors I wanted before applying.

 

While the first layer was still wet, I painted the second layer much more thickly and included my opaque colors.  I had the most fun hinting at the shape of the geranium leaves by defining their edges and allowing bits of leaves and blossoms to "be free".  It was a joy to paint ... Geranium Joy.

Geranium Joy, Available

6x6 oil, framed

Window Box

As the weather warms up I know that my beautiful window box pansies, planted in October, are not long for this world.  In honor of all the pansies ready to give up their spot to make room for summer flowers, I am featuring their smiling, sunny faces this week.  This picture, from last year's bounty, inspired a small painting I call "Window Box".

I chose a 6x6 square panel to paint on because I wanted to echo the shape of the corner of the  window box so that the softly draping blossoms would stand in contrast.  Since I'm the boss of me :), I freely changed colors and rearranged the flowers to encourage the viewer's eye to move through and around the blossoms.

Window Box, SOLD
6x6 Oil