Untitled
40" x 30" Oil on Heavy Duty Gallery Wrap Canvas
Contemporary Abstract Floral Still Life
This is Day #11 in the 30/30 Paint Challenge. This painting has been on my easel for a couple of weeks, and I can now say that it is completed - I think. I will look at it and probably have my art friends critique it. I need to put a name on it...so if you have any suggestions, feel free to email me your suggestions!
As I was painting, I took some picture along the way...it is always good to go back and look at the stages of the painting. Here you can see I took magenta and indian yellow and scrubbed in color, covering all of the canvas. Nothing like going bold on the color!
At this point, I did not know what I was going to do. I have a habit of immediately starting a new canvas with paint left over from my last painting.
I have been on a floral still life kick, and looked at this canvas thinking it would be a very strong composition if I filled the 40" x 30" canvas with a mixed bouquet of flowers. We had a nice arrangement in the studio, so that was my starting point. Here I loosely placed the arrangement on the canvas-drawing with a large filbert and paint.
I wasn't sure what I was doing with the vase at this point, and did some painting upside down. It is always good to look at the painting backwards on the computer or upside down. I was happy with the placement of the subject matter, so I continued to work on the flowers. I tried to keep my oils clean. I wanted the colors to be fresh and vibrant.
I started adding greenery and more layers of paint. The reflection in the water has breaks in the color. I did pull out a small filbert to put in some finishing touches. I wanted the flowers to overlap and have variety in shapes and sizes. I also wanted my darks very dark and my lights very light for contrast. I did not use any medium on this painting...the paint is very thick and textured.
So after debating on adding a piece of fabric on to the background, I decide that would be too much. So I painted in three small leaves implying that they fell off the arrangement, signed it and now it is drying in the studio. This painting has a contemporary feel to it, especially with a very thick (2 1/2") deep stretcher bar/canvas. I painted all the sides, so framing is optional. It is ready to hang! Thanks for looking at this blog. Contact Kay with any comments or questions. Kay
