Bench In The Garden

This painting shows a little more perspective than I usually do when just painting a floral. As a landscape there is a bit more depth shown because the bench is in the distance in the garden. The intent is to lead the viewer’s eye through the oainting to the center of interest.

See you on The Other Side

There seems to be a trend now for paintings of whote flowers. I think it is because gheyare looked on as being neutral which fits into a lot of decoratinb shees.This is fine with me but I should remind the viewer that white isnever  just white..I see all kinds of colors in these late fall flowers 

Trade Deal

the varirty of blues in the world is amazing. The good thing is that when using them in a painting  you really can’t go wrong. The colors qualify as analogous colors ( neighboring colors) so they always go together. For this painting I used a cool light ultramarine with a blue green. Perfect!

Color Theory

i painted this large 30x 40 acrylic painting for my solo show at the Botanic Garden. The flower theme was perfect for the setting on the garden. The painting reminded me of the colorful artwork of Peter Max in the 70’s. If you aren’t familiar with his work, look it up. Think Beatle’s Yellow Submarine. It was fun- Everything came straIght from my imagination.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

When I first started painting it was the shapes of the flowers that was intimidating.After I felt comfortable with those it was glass that was the next hurdle - usually mason jars or smooth glass vases. Of course the next hard thing was cut crystal like this vase. But I finally realized it was just about shapes and colors.You paint what you see, not a vase or flowers. That is why learning to draw upside down is so effective. Of course that only works with photographs unless you are an acrobat!

Made for You

Backgrounds can totally make or break a painting. Originally this painting had a solid blue background. It seemed a good choice because the foreground was pretty busy with the flower pots and flowers and needed a restful space for the eye to rest. I looked at it for a few days but wasn’t satisfied with it and then I remembered a Carla O Connor workshop I attended in California a few years ago. She taught us about using colors close in value in backgrounds to create interest without taking the attention away from the subject matter. So I used different tints and shades of the blue to add subtle interest to the painting without shouting. It immediately became FRENCH to me, the ultimate in ooh la la.

All Dressed Up

One kind of balance is called Asymetrical. This means that if you divided the painting down the middle it would not be equal on both sides. To me it is a more interesting kind of balance but not as easy to do. There has to be enough weight of some kind on each side even if it is negative space. It just takes practice, practice , practice to make it look easy.

Exceeds Expectations

There is a dilemma when painting a bouquet of multiple kinds of flowers. The many kinds and colors of flowers can be beautiful but also overwhelming. This is where some of the principles of design come into play. Repetition for example in this painting. The shapes and colors are repeated throughout to create a kind of pattern or rhythm. The mason jars are the same kind to create unity to tie the rest of the painting together.

Looking for Answers

This painting is different from my usual because it is all acrylic. I often do an acrylic underpainting but this time I was satisfied with the painting as it was. I also ended up going a little more abstract with this one. It is funny how I never quite know what will happen when I begin a painting but that is what makes the process exciting.

Scheduled Roses

My favorite kind of painting is one like this that is often called an intuitive painting. They are most often totally abstract but I like to make them more recognizable. Since I have been painting flowers for the better part of more than 40 years , I have a kind of vocabulary of flower shapes and leaves in my head and often can paint them without a reference in front of me. It is almost as if the paintbrush just takes over for me. Maybe like an artistic Ouija board!

Sidelines

My favorite compositions are close ups that run off of the page. This one qualifies. The white flowers are the stars of the painting because of the white value and their size but they work so well because of the snealy little red shape in the bottom left quadrant of the painting. A nice surprise; best supporting actress!

I’m Not The Only One

the title of this painting comes from the song “Imagine” by the Beatles, lyrics written by John Lennon. There is a reference to someone referring to someone as a dreamer , but the singer says but I’m not the only one.
. Sometimes we feel alone but more than likely there are others who feel exactly the way we do. This painting has flowers in it that are unique and not ordinary ar all. Being different can be lonely but there is always someone there to make it all right.

I Saw Her Standing There

For some reason, this painting reminded me of the Beatles  lyric “ she was just 17,if you know what I mean..... I saw her standing there”.  Those early Beatles songs are such classics; most people my age know all the songs by heart. The songs are deceptively simple but musical experts praise the complexitiy of their songs.
 I try to do the same with these simple jars of flowers. The shapes and colors are interwoven to create movement and pattern  in a composition that moves the eye in the picture plane without leaving.

Blue Agenda

October has slipped up on us . I had a successful solo show at the Memphis Botanic Garden and will participate in a group show at St. George’s School the first weekend of November. That is a little less pressure since there are several artists involved. I am also going to have cataract surgery sometime in the near future. The cataract was accelerated because of anothere eye surgery I had in December so it was expected. It is not scheduled yet because I have worn hard contact lenses for almost 50 years and the eyeball has to relax out of them before cataract surgery. I have had them measured 2 times- they just smile and say see you in 3 weeks to measure again! Patience.

Shake Things Up

This painting started with a hot pink background. I knew that I wanted to portray a wildflower scene and I just kep adding shapes of flowers and leaves. The pale yellow flowers were the primary blooms with all other shapes supporting those..

High Key

Painting white flowers is often a challenge until you realize that they are anything but pure white. Of coutrse white paint is used but so are many other colors. Some are subtle as in the bloom itself and others are brighter in the background.This painting is titled High Key because the colors are mostly lighter values with the exception of a few dark to make the blossoms pop.

Never Enough

It is well past lilac season but I say there can never be enough lilacs or paintings of lilacs. I am glad for many reasons to be back in the south; mild winters being a major reason. Sadly , we are not the best climate for lilacs. I have heard a few urban myth sightings of lilac bushes down here but I have yet to see one. When we lived in Pennsylvania were lucky to live 2 miles from Longwood Gardens where the lilacs were intoxicating. I will never forget just standing in front of the bushes just taking in the sight and smell of them.

Feels Like Friday

I could paint one of these blue and white vases every day and never run out of a different pattern. They are so pleasing , especially when paired with  beautiful hydrangeas. They seem like they were made gor each other.

Introduction

As Paul  Simon said, there are 50 ways to leave your lover. Well, there are apparently more than 50 ways to paint hydrangeas in mason jars. I probably have painted more than that of many types of flowers in jars. I like the simplicity of the jars as a way to show the beauty of the flowers.

Make Me Wanna Holler

i was listening to Marvin Gay’s Inner City Bues and the lyric in the title came up and I knew it was perfect for the title of this painting. The colors seem to be alive and want to make some noise!

Want To Fall In Love

Drama is the name  of the game. I recently looked back on some watercolors of mine from about 20 years ago. There was nothing really wrong with them but to my mind they were a little BORING. I think I have finally learned that to be more dynamic a painting needs to kick it up a notch. That means make the darks a little darker, the lighte a little lighter, and the composition a little more unpredictable.

Blueprint

There is something calming about blue and white with blue hydrangeas. The cool and smooth vase with the formal pattern is a good backdrop for the textured flowers. Elegance is the buzzword for the day.

Geranium Conversation

These two pots seem to be having a conversation about something. Of course that is a fantasy, although plants are living , we know that they don’t have human attributes! But it is fun to imagine what they might be saying to each other if they could speak.

Flower Power

This  acrylic painting is quite a different style from many of my other paintings. It is a more modern appproach but in a way similar to the pop art paintings of the sixties a la Peter Max. For this kind of painting I did not have a subject to look at;it all came from my head. Of course my head has been filled for the last several decades with thousands of images of flowers so there was plenty of material to work with.

Geranium Convention

i like this outdoors view of a garden table of geranium pots.It is an arrangement set in sunlight near a garden showing a variety of sizes of pots although the colors are the same. Geraniums are a favorite of mine; they are a sturdy summer plant capabble of withstanding the summer heat.

In The Garden

This 36;x 48 painting may be part of the Botanic Garden Show. It is a walk through a garden or meadow, encountering the different plants and flowers along the way. I like a blend of abstract and realism- leaving some things to imagination.

Peak of Summer

I have been painting meadows and wildflower fields lately as a big picture theme. This painting takes  a close up view of the meadow type painting. The composition has as its focal point the larger red flower .The coloes reflect the warmth of a summer day.

Color Field

It is not just enough to paint the flowers when painting a meadow; it is important to try to show some movement. Most of the time there will be some wind blowing outdoors so the flowers would be moving.The way to do this is to show the flowers at different angles, the petals flipped up, etc.It is not always easy but worth trying.

Summer in the City

The temperature of a painting depends on the colors used in the painting. This painting has a warm tone because of the colors used. The yellows, reds and peaches contribute to the warm temperature of the painting. There are a few cool colors in the painting but they are only there to serve as a balance to the warmth.

Iris Flight

I worked on this painting a few times before I was satisfied with it.I just couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it until I finally realized it was too much of a good thing. There were too many flowers in the picture! I removed some of the iris, added more green-and it gave the eye more rest. I like to put a painting up to live with it a few days so I can think about what I like and don’t like about the painting. This one passes the test now.