Wednesday, June 06, 2007

"Irises And Wild Flowers" 10" x 8" O/P

This was an interesting piece to paint and represents approximately forty-five minutes of painting time.


The bouquet of flowers was set up as a back lit still life (about five feet from a window and natural light) and placed about thirty to thirty-five feet from the easel. Looking at the subject from the easel was not unlike looking at a plein air subject while squinting. In this case, the masses became more important and the details of the still life tended to disappear or fade to less importance at this distance. The back lighting softened the edges of the smaller masses more so than the larger masses.


At the same time, the values of the colours became less pronounced to the eye. At best, it meant that I could represent the masses in three values, dark, middle and the lightest value when I start the painting.


The support in this piece was a gessoed panel with a final coat of a value five warm grey. My colours were my regular limited palette without any 'favourite' colours added.


Now, to paint the masses in proportion to each other and the simplified colour values seemed to make the painting of the composition much less confusing as apposed to being close to the still life and to be bogged down with the details. The lay in went much faster than usual and seemed to maintain an abstract quality that I really liked. I left the painting at the stage you see it above. In retrospect, I could have added details or values to define the masses further. For instance, a small shadow under the lip of the vase, or a cast shadow on the face of the vase from the mass of leaves would have added further definition or finish.


All in all, I thought that this was a worthy and valuable painting exercise.

..till next

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow...both your florals are amazing. But I can tell that you are the same artist that paints those great landscapes. Lay that brush full of paint down and "ta daaa" it works.

Do you find that getting away from your more traditional subjects is rejuvenating?

I have a butt-load of pics I took of peonies, irises, et al, from my gardens just waiting for a dull gray day to be painted. Your floral work has inspired me.

Wayne Gaudon said...

Hi Frank:
I like the idea behind the study but overall I think I'd like a few more details to make it a tad less abstract. However, what do I know? LOL Great coloring as usual.

Wayne

Frank A. said...

Thank you, Jane for the lovely compliment.
I do not, for the most part, find getting away from my more traditional subjects to be rejuvenating. Maybe if I were to do more of them before going back to the landscape, I would notice a difference.
Really, what is rejuventating is to put the brushes down for about three days..:-)...and just get lost. You know the feeling.
Glad that I could finally get to be an inspiration to you.. :-)

..take care.

Frank A. said...

Hi Wayne..Thanks for commenting.
I understand your preference for more details in this painting. The "painting" as it is, was ment to be a WIP (work in progress)and not represent a finished painting.(Although, I feel some may prefer this stage of finish) Any further work (details) I felt would defeat or confuse the purpose of the exercise as I presented it to this point.. Thus, my few suggestions (examples) for continuing towards a finished painting.

Glad you commented, Wayne. It set me to wondering if others may have assumed that it was a finished painting and missed the point of the "lay in, massing and values"
take care...

Wayne Gaudon said...

I misunderstood your comment about leaving it at this stage as meaning you were satisfied. Of course the frame always lends me to think of a finished product. LOL
Take care.

Wayne

Anonymous said...

A worthwhile effort indeed. I love this piece. Very strong and emotional and I also understand the need to create this type of work. I get lost in the detail in my own work, and it helps to hold back once in a while.