Always Learning Something New

Petunias on Green Gingham

Acrylic

12" square

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Although I've used acrylic paint longer than I can remember, it was rarely for fine art and usually for decorative purposes.  I decided to paint this image from photos I had taken at the end of summer 2016 using acrylics instead of oils.   The lighting was adding quite a bit of interest to this arrangement.  I enjoy painting white flowers in particular and petunias have such a flare and flounce that make them fun to paint.

Older Work, New Inspiration

Probably about five years ago I did a series like this of acrylic on water-colour paper with Prismacolor pencils for details and a slightly abstract background.  My go-to medium is usually oil for framed paintings and water-colour for illustration work but I think I'm ready to go back to using
acrylics on paper again.  Maybe because I've been doing some collage work and that would blend so well with the type of painting above.  It's nice to be able to re-visit my own work and get inspired rather than looking elsewhere for that spark.  This one is under glass as you can see by the tiny areas of reflection at the top and over the handle.  Perhaps this time I might work on wood panels because of the smooth surface and see if I can get that "pastel painting" effect I got from working with velvety acrylics and pencil on paper.

Petunias Revisited

Petunias Revisited

6" x 6" x 1.5" 

Oil on Wood Cradled Panel

$90.00

This is the last stage before I put the finishing touches.  Photographing it and even posting it here before really calling it finished helps me to see the areas that need tweaking and right now, although I really like the flower in the lower right corner I see that the interior of the flower is too vibrant and should be slightly less saturated...
This is from a series of photographs I took last year and I painted one other of this series with a higher view point.  I thought it was worth revisiting.  From the 3 foot square painting of the last post to the diminutive 6" square, it wasn't quite the adjustment I thought it might take.  The two and a half hours breezed by compared to the time it took to complete the last one.

...a new Mural

A new mural on a 6' high by 6' wide wall that continues on three sides for a total of 14'. I enjoyed painting this scene so much I've
thought about painting an adirondack chair on canvas in a garden setting much like this one. It's such a transformation, painting a scene where only a blank wall existed before. The wall opposite this one has a door under a trellis inbetween two stone walls and a white garden bench on a flagstone patio. Delphiniums, Irises, hollyhocks and daisies grow in the garden and petunias
tumble out of pots. A garden as lush as I want it to be.....