Jungle Blossom Completed (finally)

After several days in the cool mountain air in North Carolina, I finally finished one of those pesky banana blossoms. Hope you like it. I took this photo in the Allerton Botanical Gardens on Kauai, a magical place if there ever was one. Remember the huge rooted trees in Juriasic Park where the dinosaur eggs were? Those trees are in the Garden.

I am having trouble deciding on backgrounds, and want to try doing a botanical piece on a white ground - no details behind it. I saw a British artist named Sarah Graham's work and this is how she depicts her subjects. It is very clean and bold.

I have several other pieces to add to the blog...more in a bit.

Blue Iris

I wanted to paint a quick piece - so here is 'Bill's Blue'. I have an artist friend, Bill McKeown, who has a wonderful garden full of irises, which as my favorite non-tropical flower to paint. This was done quickly on 11 x 14 Aquabord with 2" birch supports - no need for a frame!

Reworking the Roses

I have been revisiting two works that I abandoned a few months ago to see if they could be rescued, and I think I have accomplished that. The first one, 'Dancer's Hands', reminds me of the graceful hand gestures made by ballarinas. I break a basic rule with this one: don't put your subject in the center! What the heck, it is my painting and I think it works ;) The background probably needs one more glazing of a dark neutral, and it will be complete.....

The second piece, Golden Afternoon', bugged me because the two roses were competing for attention. I glazed back the upper one and added white highlights to the main rose by gently scrubbing off paint and adding a bit of white goache where necessary. I love the background on this one!

The banana blossoms will rise back to the top of my work list.....sometimes I have to leave paintings to their own devices for a few days and go back to them with a fresh eye.

Back to Work

After a wonderful mini vacation over the Fourth of July weekend, I am back in the studio. I am working on the banana blossoms - still in that tropical vibe. The larger one is on hold for a few days, while I stare at it and figure out what it needs. This smaller one (16 x 20) is coming together rapidly, and I should be done with it tomorrow.

Challenged...

I have made some progress, but I still have a loonnnngggg way to go! This is the stage in the painting process where I absolutely HATE what I am working on, and and want to throw it away and start over. But, I have to get over my frustrations and make it work!

Goin' Bananas

Been working a lot this week on the Banana Blossom, as well as giving the Coco Palm piece a final look before I seal it today. I keep wanting to add darker values to the Coco Palm, but once I look at the image in black and white, it seems to have enough value contrast.

The banana piece is giving me fits - I can't seem to get the baby bananas right. Luckily I can scrub off my mistakes and start over (Thank you, Aquabord!).

Here they are...

The Beginning of Blogging

I am not sure yet what to do with this blogging stuff....but it looks like fun, so here goes! I am painting today in the studio. It's WAY too hot to work outside, and I have to be near the kitchen to keep an eye on the marinara sauce. Hubby gets stuffed meatballs for his Father's Day Feast (yum!).

We sailed in the BVI last month, so I have a ton of tropical inspiration to work from. I was able to paint a few small (5x7) coco palms and papayas on board the boat, as long as the seas were calm. I finished a huge coco palm piece on aquaboard once we got home.

I just started a 22 x 30 Banana Blossom, and will post in-progress photos later on. I love the contrast of deep reddish violet against yellow green and turquoise.

More later...