When I blinked my eyes open just before 5:00 am they met the moon smiling down on us in the soft hues of a clear dawn. I could have gone and got my camera to capture its deep yellow-orange but instead we just gazed at each other until the moment passed.
Now, still early, the day is well underway and I believe with a bit of luck it will be a painting day. Yesterday, in a 20 minute window, I did up this quick 5 x 7 inch study “in the pinks.”
The study is to assist me with what I need to do on a larger 24 x 36 inch canvas “Always Roses” that is in progress.
I wanted to try a new red that I thought might make a better pink for my roses. But I am not sure I am convinced. None the less, my sweetie is taken with this study so I thought I would share it with you.
Each colour has its own learning curve and it seems an infinite set of possibilities as we often discover when we go to paint a wall. I remember watching Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House (1948) a few years ago and the wife in the movie was trying explain to the painters the colour she wanted in the kitchen or something. She is going on and on about how it was the yellow of fresh butter she was looking for but not quite. She gets more and more specific with her description in her attempt to request the exact colour she is wanting. The lead contractor final turns to his side kick who has the pencil and paper and says “you got that!” The other guy is looking at his paper and nodding as he replies “uh-um, yellow!”
In this painting I feel like the wife in the movie in search of just the right pink and my palette is recording my desire about the same as the guy with the pen and paper in the movie “uh-um pink!”
For the larger painting, I had found the perfect light one afternoon but of course the day I started painting it is different and my squished studio space doesn’t offer anything close. So I did the best I could in combining my painting day with the light from the day before. The lighting is completely backwards. However, I wanted to paint so we just went with it.
I decided on an approach of working from the outside in until my subject revealed itself out of necessity. You can get an idea about how this works in these two images.
But is there anything left to say about a still life vase of flowers with roses? After hundreds of years of paintings of this subject it doesn’t seem like there is much. Yet, I cannot resist. I must! In fact all of the other “to do” items have been shoved aside – including getting some food in the house to eat. Well I did find a chunk of cheese and a pear. Not starving – just limited in choices.
I notice now how I shifted the shape of the vase to fit the compositional differences in the frame dimensions I am for the painting. That definitely wasn’t a conscious choice.
Let’s see what the painting in process looks like now though the glow of wet paint is making some parts look lighter than what is actually on the canvas. I am fascinated how the image changed perspective so that the viewer is looking slightly down down on the arrangement. This is not the case with my set up. However, the canvas is so tall that I had to reach way above me to paint.
So here is a canvas that rest while humming an old familiar song of roses and other flowers arranged in a vase. It was painted just for the joy of it and to please me. Thanks for tagging along with me 🙂
Now I am off to see if I can find us the perfect pinks and see if I can finish it with some measure of success!
SPROUT: What colour have you most wanted for something and had the least ability to describe?
© 2012 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.
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Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.
From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada
Terrill Welch online Gallery at http://terrillwelchartist.com
