'Reflections'

The subject at Avon valley Artists this week was 'Reflections'. Any interpretation and any medium. This type of wide brief always brings forth some excellent interpretations and that is often one of the most interesting parts of the viewing at the end of the session.
I had an idea in my head about how I wanted the finished painting to look, but did not have any idea of how to achieve it,
I wanted the reflections to be fairly obvious, but not the surface on which the reflection was cast. That was to be left mainly to the imagination of the viewer.
I did a bit of prep work before the session and drew in the upper flowers and very lightly marked out the placing of the reflections in the lower half of the painting, The dividing line became a series of diagonals with broken stems.
It was all a bit hit and miss, but I tried to keep the colours fresh and not worry too much about accuracy. At the end of the session, I was quite pleased with the result

                                                   'Tulip Reflections'   300lb Rough
                                                   Fabriano Artistico  25cm x 35cm

When I got the painting home and had lived with it a few days, I felt that the passage through the middle was a little too strong, so removed it from its mount and I washed away some of the Ultramarine Blue and replaced it with a lighter blue mixed with green and this seemed to remove a bit of the strength of the barrier between the tulips and their reflections. The difference is quite small so I have not re-photographed it as I do not think there will be much difference in the reproduction. When it came to framing the finished painting I spent some time deciding how much of the top and bottom of the painting to remain seen. In the end I opted to crop the flowers and the reflections fairly closely which I think strengthens the painting, but has the added advantage of removing some slightly sludgy passages at the base of the painting