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

Holy Communion Lutheran Church - Foscoe, NC

A friend passes this little stone church everyday and asked me if I would paint it.  Here's how I approached the challenge:

I began with acrylics since I love to get color on fast and furious with no fear of perfection.  Next I analyze the composition and formulate ideas for further refinement.  This stage ends up looking either like "paint by number" or a child's cartoon.

Now I mix up my oils and adjust the subject matter, in this case the portal to the church and the stone.  I'm not worried about the background at this point other than for color harmony.

These photos were taken over several days so the lighting differs slightly altering your the color.  But notice that I already thought it might be finished so I popped it in a frame. I also took a photo for a closer look.  What I don't like about this piece is the busy foreground left.  The choppy colors are pretty by themselves but I think they distract from the church.  I also see that the dark areas of the landline on the right are waaaay too dark.  Both of these observations are things to be careful of when painting from a photograph...it may be correct as far as the camera recorded it but it just doesn't make sense when trying to transition into art.

Holy Communion Lutheran Church, Clark's Creek Rd., Foscoe, NC

11 x 14, oil, 

"Cool lights = warm shadows."  This old rule came to me as I was trying to find some balance. So I warmed up the tree shadows/leaves on the foreground left.  Now there is less distraction from the focus of the church door.  Note the improved perspective of middle ground right.  Seems further away now, right?

Thus it sits for a bit as I contemplate "doneness."  I have no idea (yet) if this meets my friend's vision....and I'm thinking I want to try this same composition in a looser, vaguer approach. I can already see that the bright light to the church left needs toning down.  And...

Now you know why it takes two artists to finish a painting: one to apply the color and the other to yell "stop!"

COLOR FULLY REVISING,
Cindy