One rose, fixed in memory.

Back in the garden that I left behind, was one of my favourite roses.
Before we left, I took some photos of it - and this painting was created from one of them. It's now fixed firmly in my memory, because I can see this painting, daily.

The rose is a David Austin - and the type is "A Shropshire Lad"

My painting is quarter sheet size - that's 15" x 11" --and is painted on Saunders Waterford 140lb rough paper.

Peachy Pink

 

The woodpile, Julia's flowers and the last rose of 2014

Good morning all,

winter is fast approaching and that can mean just one thing, painting wise!
I am starting to paint my Christmas cards. Every year I hand paint about a dozen cards, that go all around the world.
Of course, those you will not see until after the Day. None of us would like to spoil that surprise, would we?

So blogging gets a bit patchy from here... but I do have a couple of smaller paintings to show you. Both on cards for different reasons. These have been received, so I'm good to show.

Firstly, the Woodpile

and then Julia's Flowers

and this, I had to show you. There's no doubt there will be a future painting of this beautiful rose from my garden - the last one of 2014. It's a David Austin, Shropshire Lad.

Year of Painting, Rose.

On the Painting Friends forum, its time for the Year of Painting. This month we had a white rose as a reference to work from.
The idea of painting once a month is for you to analyse your work and grow from the experience.

Today, I thought I'd share the whole post with you, not just the final painting, as I did with V: The Other Side of the River.

Year of Painting (YOP)

Number Nine, Rose

Personal Goals for this Painting:

Firstly I set some goals for my thumbnail sketches.

These were :

1. do a thumbnail showing the scene as is.
2. on the other thumbs, show different crops and ideas
3. Paint all four thumbs.

I chose to paint all four thumbnails. Why I did this was to push myself to get more out from these YOPs. To try each technique and crop. To find something in each I could like and learn from.

So, here are the paintings:

Dark Rose 

 

8 x 11 Arches 140 Rough

I changed the colour of the rose. Solely because I'd not long since painted a white rose in “The Shadow of Your Love.”

I like this rose in parts. I love the bud and the background and leaves. Also the outer petals of the rose, but I feel I made a mistake to paint all the petals because I feel I've lost it in the inner shadows. I've painted in glaze after glaze to give a richer colour, therefore I can't lift the shadow without ruining the petal. A lesson learned – plan more if you want to be that literal and paint your shadows first!

Christmas Rose

8 x 11 Arches 140 Rough

Love the richness of this impasto version, it feels like a oil. That's probably because for the first time, I've painted it completely with a palette knife.

Its taught me that although its ok as a small painting ( 8x11 ) it would be stunning as a large, full sheet version.

Rosebud

8 x 11 Arches 140 Rough

This , I love everything about it. Lesson learned, take an element of a photo, that really suits me better than using the whole!

Sweet Rose

8 x 11 Arches 140 Rough

I love pointillism, it feels like meditation to me when I work in this way. Love the way this came out, reminding me of a sugar frosted rose. I wouldn't change it at all, I even like the way the petals have different colour variations.

Challenges Faced

Painting all four thumbs and trying to be creative with them all. Hardest of all was to paint the “as is” thumbnail, when it was never a photo I'd have chosen for a reference.

Share Personal Goals and whether you felt you Met Them

My personal goals were to be creative in all four paintings and to learn something from each, which I have done in varying degrees.

How I created the Paintings.

Multiple glazes in Dark Rose on the rose. Some negative painting in the background.

All impasto using aquapasto as well as watercolour and a palette knife in Christmas Rose

Loose background wash for sky in Rosebud and merging wet in wet washes for the rose and shadows.

All pointillism in Sweet Rose. A dot at a time. It took the longest time of all.

Size of Painting, Medium, Palette and Brushes.

The paintings are on Arches 140 Rough and are 8” x 11”

The medium is pencil for the under drawing and watercolour for the painting. (addition of aquapasto for Christmas Rose only)

W&N artists quality paint.

Palette colours used : transparent yellow, cadmium red, french ultramarine, sap green, olive green, indigo.

Brushes: round 12, round 6, round 2. palette knife.

Hope you've enjoyed this peek into my thoughts and practices.

The Shadow of your Love

Shadows.. I always think they make a painting.
So when I started this one, I decided to paint the shadows first.
When they were done, I loved it so much, its staying that way.
Here it is, painted on Arches 140 Rough , 15" x 11"

The Shadow of your Love

The Alphabet Paintings: E

E is for.................

Eglantine

The Eglantine rose is found in hedgerows; its thorny and the leaves smell of apple. Pretty little flower followed by beautiful rose hips.
Eglantine is sometimes called Sweet Briar.