Cone Flower Truth or Dare

Sometimes artists will paint from the same reference

photo over and over again.  Perhaps a few know

they have a winner for sale but others, like me,

want to see just how differently they

can render it each time.

And so it goes with these pinky-purple cone flowers...something I find very difficult to render.  I'm still deciding if the outcome of the latest was a win or a loss but I can say honestly that I took the dare not to stick totally to the truth!

This is a basic rendering of the lights and darks and I tried to make a few notes as to where my blossoms were to end up.  I think I was using up the tail end of a day's left over paint so I knew I had a long way to go from here.

A little more definition of a rock and a much better flow of color in the background.

Now this is when I am so tempted to quit: drab, drab, drab.  I like the little yellow-green leaf near the bottom right hand corner....that's all.  But "tests" should be pushed until they are beyond salvage and the optimist in me thought I could maybe, just maybe keep on.

Here is a detail of one flower...not too much to brag about but definitely an improvement from above.

Cone Flowers, 12 x 16, oil

Done.  At least done for me.  Agony in the home stretch and almost wish I had quit sooner and used my time elsewhere.  But that's not the point, is it?  

Here's a bonus note: take some time, zoom in and find some small spots you do like in this painting: a certain petal, a color contrast, a splash of texture....just look carefully and state a couple of things that you like.  There.  You have just widened your ability in appreciating art...a very useful technique at a gallery or a museum.  You don't have to like it en toto....but try to find something that intrigues you and you will begin to define your own taste.  

TAKING THE DARE,

Cindy