Pink Roses

Pink Roses   14x20  oil on linen

Pink roses are so soft and beautiful but they aren't one of my favorite things to paint.  I think they can be a bit "too sweet" looking.  However, I am pleased with the way this one turned out.  The roses at the store just seemed to be the flowers that wanted to be painted.  

I tried to keep the pinks from being too delicate and added some strong brushwork to give it some strength....soft but strong.

White Pine Creek

White Pine Creek  oil on linen    16x18

Took a break from the still life painting this week and decided to do a landscape.  It has been a while.  I found it a little frustrating simply because I am so out of practice.  Just knowing how to create the results you want can make quite a difference between still life and landscape.  I'm glad I did it though.  Now I have the urge to do some more!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Daffodil Bouquet

Daffodil Bouquet

oil on linen     14x17

Finally some Spring flowers in my gardens!  It is such a late season this year in Michigan.  Oddly how quickly we can adjust....winter already seems like a distant (thankfully!) memory.  

The looseness in this painting seemed appropriate with the carefree demeanor of these joyful Spring flowers.  

The Evolution of a painting

Lilacs and Peonies

The Evolution of a Painting

I did a painting back in June that I thought was done.  It came off the easel and got prepared to frame.  In August I took another look at it and thought.."ugh, this painting has some real issues!".  So it went back on the easel and acquired a new life.  Once again I felt satisfied and off it came from the easel and back in the stack of "waiting to be framed" pieces.   Today I realized it still felt awkward to me and back on the easel it went!  Now some of you may like the first version best, some may like the second version and still others of you may think , "what a hideous painting, why does she bother!" none the less, for me it is a learning process and sometimes it's just necessary to make the journey! 

I thought you might find the steps interesting so I decided to post all three along with a bit of an explanation as to what I saw as I progressed through the changes.  I think I will start from the beginning.....

In June I painted "Peonies, Iris and Lilacs".  I liked the delicate feel of the flowers and wanted to keep the background light to follow through with that sense of delicate lightness.  I tried something different with the little plant stand in the composition.  It's a pretty little plant stand and the flowers seemed to sit just right on it.

Peonies, Iris and Lilacs   17x21

Now in August I realized that the background was too light and had no real interest in it.  The table while an interesting shape felt awkward and distracting to me now, as did the heavily saturated color in the Iris......so, along came part two.......I could no longer call it Peonies, Iris and Lilacs, because well, it no longer had an Iris in it, so it got a new name with it's new life.  Spring Bouquet.

Spring Bouquet    17x21

Well, with time that vase wore on me.  It just wasn't comfortable.  It felt stiff and contrived, so I thought, "just a little tweaking...."  Once I got involved it felt that some other problems existed as well so here it is...life number three.

Lilacs and Peonies   17x21

Is it done?  I think so. But hey, one never knows for sure about these things!

Red Havens

Red Havens

Red Havens 18x18 oc

Tried a low key palette for a change.  I wanted to create a more earthy feeling with this.  The peaches are the first harvest of the year from my backyard tree and they seemed to shout to be painted!