Abstract Flowers Painting - New Project

 

This is the inspiration photo I am using for a new abstract painting.

Undercoating/Background...

Composition Sketch... Tomorrow, we will see what happens from here.... :)

Field of Poppies - Finished

I made a few subtle changes to the painting, and now it is done. I am really happy with the way this came out. With all the snow we have now, I loved working on this painting, and dreaming about spring! Now I am working on another abstract painting, while I figure out what I want to paint next. :)

Maybe Finished - Field of Poppies

I'm going to leave this alone over night... if I am still happy with it in the morning, I will sign it... I think it's done. :)

New Horizon - Field of Poppies - Work In Progress

My latest session with the painting included stem work and a new horizon for the painting. I am going to let it sit for the rest of the day and decide what to do next. I will study some paintings on the web and see what I need to do.

 The highlights in this photo are much more dominate than they are in the real painting. Not sure why, unless it's that the photo was taken up close, and I am looking at it now from about 3 feet away, and it looks different... or the paint might have still been wet, and has dried darker. I do think that I will blend the "highlights" in the field flowers behind the foreground flowers... then maybe I will call this one done. :)

update on Field of Poppies painting.

I worked on this painting last night, adding more detail to the flowers in the foreground. I plan on working on the foreground stems and grasses today... still much work to be done.

One final heart photo... :)

This is my friend Jan and the heart I painted for the Have a Heart gala auction last night. She is the one who gently pushed me into doing the fund raiser project for the hospital. The heart sold at auction last night. The project was a great experience, and I hope the new owner enjoys the heart.

Field of Poppies - Step by Step

I've been working on a 16x20 acrylic painting of a field of poppies. I am still not done with it, but I thought I would share the progress I am making on it with you.

 Step 1 was to prime the canvas with paint.

 Step 2 was to prime the background with dark paint to form the field.

 Step three was to get some red on the canvas.

 Step 4, starting to define the stems in the foreground

Here I added some more red, and gave the foreground flowers more depth by adding smaller flowers, and I am starting to define the petals. I still have a ton of work to do on this painting, but it is coming along... and I am having fun with it. :)

Well, as you can see, I had a bit of a temper tantrum again, I was not happy with the flowers in the foreground. I really messed them up, so rather than give up, I repainted over them, spent some time studying and doing some pencil sketches of poppies that I found photos of on the internet, and then blocked the shapes in white, so I could get some nice bright color on top of that green. I've gone a step further with this than you see now, and it is looking much better. I will show you tomorrow. I don't know yet if I am being bull-headed, and should just gesso over this canvas and completely start over, or if this will eventually be a painting I will be happy with... only time will tell.

For the Love of Art - Art Show

I participated in an art show yesterday in Elkhart Indiana. It was a great learning experience. I sold one framed artwork, and three small matted artworks, not enough to cover my expenses of the show, but at least I sold something, considering there were so many other awesome artworks, pottery, jewelry, sculpture to compete with, I am grateful I sold anything. I traded a painting for the big wall unit, so I have that for next time. If I do another art-show like this, I will only have that unit, and add another table to show more of the matted works. I will drape some material behind the display unit. Both of my "neighbors" were very nice. I'm drinking my morning coffee out of a wonderful pottery cup that the artist "next door" gave to me. It was nice to make a new friend. :)

Tamper Tantrum

I had a little piece of scrap paper left over from the Cherry Blossoms painting, so last night I thought I would just play with it. I had a lovely little mountain landscape thing going, was almost done with it, and then... WHAM! I screwed it up! What's a girl to do? Yep... smear the paint all over the paper until it was just a muddy mess, then add some color and get the rest of the frustration out... Yep, this is a temper tantrum. :)

Cherry Blossoms - Finished

Well, I am finished with this. I think if I do any more to it, it will look over-worked. I don't think it's horrible or anything, but I think it could be better... I am going to try something like this again, and try not to get so dark with the gray in the petals next time.

Cherry Blossoms Step 2 & 3

Well, I took the masking off last night before I went to bed... good thing, because I had a little trouble getting it off one area, and might have been worse if I had left it on over night. This morning, I painted some background color for the flowers and buds... after it dries, I will start to define the petals, and might lift some of the color I put on, have to wait and see how it looks when it is dry.

Here is the painting after I added some more background work, starting to develop the petals of the flowers.

Cherry Blossoms ... time will tell...

This is the start of a watercolor painting I am working on. It's 8.5 x 11 on watercolor paper. So far I have sketched out my subject (from a photo I took of some cherry blossoms in my yard last spring), then I masked off the flowers and buds, and then went wild with the background. Tomorrow, after it has completely dried, I will take the mask off and start working on the flowers... time will tell if this works as I want it to ... time will tell.