Monday, January 28, 2008

SEEKING FORGIVENESS






(Click image to see enlarged view.)


This is the first floral I've painted. Well, that isn't exactly true. This is the first floral I've finished. I started two others over the past three years, but abandoned the paintings early on as things got muddy and were too flat.


The problem with this one is the roses. They look as if I carved them out of soap. They seem too heavy and not delicate. Perhaps I need to shade them more than I did, but I didn't want to end up scrapping this one as well.


What I do like is the vase and the daisies. I changed the vase a lot from the reference photo giving it darker colors by bringing the background color into the glass. The daisies were a work in patience. I started with a light yellow wash and then built up the colors until they were a bright yellow. I then added some yellow ochre and some orange for the centers and the shaded petals. I added some Van Dyke Brown around the centers to help give them a three dimensional look.


The final step was to take off the masking fluid that was hiding the baby's breath and then scratch some of the baby's breath stems with a razor blade.


I think at the very least, this painting has encouraged me to try another floral sometime.





1 comments:

Michelle said...

Hi Tim,
Roses can be very challenging with all the layers and shadows. This is a nice painting. You did a great job on the glass vase.