Not Taking Time to Look at a Flower

I thought I knew what a rose looked like until I tried my first painting of one, thinking I was exempt from Georgia O'Keefe's thought about not bothering to really look at flowers, especially since I garden.  But I wasn't.

The first O’Keefe flower pastel I encountered was so heavily covered with pigment I was amazed, a powdery surface not to been seen in books.

The oil below is from my favorite rose in the fabulous garden at the Barnes Foundation outside Philadelphia.  ( Go if you have the chance, only Impressionist paintings not to be seen elsewhere).  I loved the pink, pink, pink.  But as complicated as the rest of nature, once you really look!

In the Pink
Oil  6 x 6

Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days - Fourth Day

Flowers not being my usual subject are giving me a lot of lessons about depicting subtle form and use of color, not as neutral as those in landscapes.

Stargazer

Shared Gold - Mountain Laurel

This floral subject more complex than yesterdays, will switch to something like a floral portrait tomorrow.

Glad to see that this is looser than yesterday's.

Shared Gold
Oil   5 x 7

Emperors' of the Snow

Crocuses hold a special place in my heart, because they are so brave.  In February when winter seems endless, they push their way throw the snow and somehow bloom when it is freezing.  Every winter they give me hope.  Spring is on its way.


                                   

30 in 30 for the 3rd Time

This January I am returning to the 30 in 30 painting event sponsored by Leslie Saeta.  My goal is to do a floral painting in oil each day.  I am traveling as I do this, so it should be especially challenging. Here is day one.  This format is especially small 4 x 4 panel,  but it has a 1/2" depth not shown in this photo which gives the appearance of an object rather than a painting, a concept I would like further to  explore.

Auction

When the local Arts council hosted a fund raising auction,  a feature was a series of 8" square works in all kinds of media.

This particular painting, based on an earlier summer photo, tells the wonderful story of a retriever and his owner enjoying a day on the water.   The dog clearly thought this way of experiencing the lake was superior to previous watery encounters.

A painted band of Mission lettering, proclaiming the name of the vacation spot, provides a frame for the panel.

Vacation Idyll

Jamaica.  

Away from the beaches it feels very old and foreign.  Definitely its own country.

From the beaches the water is that glowing, translucent blue that means the tropics to us northerners.

I chose to travel with pastels thinking it might be easier.  But Jamaican customs had other ideas.

Near Negril   

Pastel 6" x 8"

Glass Bottom 

Pastel 6" x 6"