Bright Shining Faces
Though the image is large, the painting is small; though the glass is real, the flowers are imaginative. But the effort served for practice with complementary colors and with quick application of paint, something that frees me from being too tight with edges.
Daisy Spray
Daisies can bow, nod, and flutter in the wind. For this reason, they need to look loose and not so tightly rendered in paint, a fact that can easily escape me when smearing on their petals. So this was a practice for a look of movement and colorful shadows. Daisies never disappoint me.
Lucky Ducks
These are the two stars from last week’s post (Lovely Weather for Ducks) in a close up. They are doing what ducks do, keeping a watchful distance from humans and complacently preening. The shadow they were in cooled their feathers to quiet blues and made the sun spots pop. They expressed no interest, as I did.
Bridal Bells
White cones of soft petals form these make-believe flowers. Here I was practicing light and shadow with warm and cool tones. Some of the best floral painters achieve wonderful color in the shadow areas, and so I strive.
Lovely Weather for Ducks
One late Autumn day years ago, I went to a farm in Amish Country in Ohio that was dedicated to plein aire painting. Though these inhabitants had no interest in what about twenty of us were pursuing, they did seem content to waddle among us. They were caught on camera near their favorite haunt, resting in the cool shade.
