Roses 30 in 30 day 2

Roses 30 in 30 day 2

My sweet husband brought me a bouquet of roses yesterday and I painted this vignette today for my Day 2 painting of the 30 in 30.  It was better, in my eyes, before I did too much, I know you watercolorists out there can relate!, but still, it gives a feeling of the bouquet.  And I need more practice drawing with the paintbrush especially with complicated blossoms like roses… but that’s what the 30 in 30 is — DAILY PRACTICE!!

Century WIP

and here’s a slightly more accurate color view of the wip of the century plant that I showed yesterday.  

The 30 in 30 painting challenge is one that I’ve participated in twice yearly for several years and it is always a fun, challenging and productive month when I do it. Click on the link to see other people’s works that they’ve done today.  there are about 1000 artists all over the world participating this time.

Susie’s Rose Day 2 of the 30 in 30 painting challenge

painted from life from a bouquet my friend Susie gave me to celebrate my first watercolor show.

Ok, I know, I know, that I said that my theme of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge was going to be “seas and skies” but rules are meant to be broken! Ha!

Rose bouquet

Well, it wasn’t a rule, it was a guideline that I temporarily abandoned for good reason.  My friend who couldn’t attend the show, dropped off at my house a beautiful bouquet of roses to celebrate.  I immediately knew I wanted to paint them.  I also knew that it would be difficult!

I knew that if I wanted to paint them from life, I had to work on it before they started drooping.  So, over the weekend  I tried unsuccessfully to paint them in their full glory  several times, and the results just weren’t pretty.It wasn’t working for me. I had a clear idea of what I wanted:  a wet in wet bouquet with just the suggestion of detail on some of the blooms, and soft flowing colors.  But in reality, there were too many details and I couldn’t loosen up enough to make it as I wanted, but still have the blooms look like roses.

So then I decided to concentrate on just a couple of blooms, and this is how the painting decided to go.  One full bloom and the suggestion of one on the side.  I am happy with the lost and found edges on this piece and how much I learned from methodically trying to get the fullness and curve of each petal.  It was a really enjoyable painting day for me.  I am doubly grateful for the flowers and for our friendship.

Rose blossom

Backlit rose blossom. Available. Click on image to view larger.

This painting was from a class taught by Penny Simpson from Las Cruces, NM.  She provided us a lovely photograph and a drawing to transfer to our paper.  It’s about 6.5″ x 12″ and is on a heavier watercolor paper (300 lb).

The process is to paint the black background first with acrylic paint which gives a crisp edge to the focal point and then paint the central design.  I used mostly wet in wet techniques with pale washes.  I got the first layer down and realized the underside of the petal on the right (with the various colors) was deeper than the others.  so I carefully re-wet those lighter petals and added deeper washes on them to balance it out.

It is difficult to get that kind of stark dark coverage with watercolor alone, but I have read there are other ways (here’s one from a Daniel Smith email ) so I’d like to experiment more with both. Nanci from our class brought in black gesso which also worked really well.

Penny was the one I wrote to around the holidays asking if she taught private lessons, and she doesn’t but directed me to the local group run by Jacques Barriac.  Being with them has opened up lots of other doors and I’ve found lovely people to paint with.  It’s been a great experience.

Penny will be with us for three more weeks, and tomorrow’s painting will be a pair of wine bottles.  Please be sure to check out her link; you will love her work!

Roses in the snow

The picture says it all.

Roses in a vase

I’m not overly fond of this painting, I think it’s because I wasn’t inspired painting it, but it was good practice for me. I wanted the roses to look more watery and fluid, but “you can’t always get what you want”! It was a project on Watercolorworkshop yahoo group where we all painted from the same photo by Vicki Greene at PaintMyPhoto.