Monday 23 July 2012

Orange Lilies




This turned out to be a lesson in just how far to take a painting with due regard to ones ability!!
I wanted to do several new things, another chance to use the unstructured Thursday session to try something a bit different.
I think, in hindsight, there were too many new and different things going on, and I have realised that sometimes it is better to really consolidate certain skills before proceeding onto something new, and only introducing one new thing at a time..........or is it just a case of if you want to have fun and experiment, it doesn't always work!

I wanted to do a bigger painting than normal, I wanted to question some of the compositional rules and I wanted to push my experimental, loose approach even further. I am disappointed with the result, simply    because it did not turn out as I had hoped. However, my annual exhibition has taught me that people buy and admire all sorts of art, and some paintings that I felt were failures for one reason or another, have been bought by people who genuinely thought they were beautiful. Thank goodness we are all different!


The drawing stage was fine. The paper is Whatman Rough 300gm  and measures 57cm x 39cm. I did however, deliberately place the heavy blooms on the RH side of the picture and leave the LH side with only foliage and buds. That was my attempt to play around with composition, to see if it works when one pushes the rules a bit too far!






The start of the painting was ok as well. Doing what I normally do by creating a relatively traditional flower in the first instance. Even at this stage, though, I was beginning to feel slightly worried. It was not as vibrant and 'clean' as I wanted it. Th colours in the photo are stunning and I really wanted to capture that. 


I did wonder if it would help if I got rid of some of the white behind the flower in an attempt to add more contrast and make the oranges more vibrant.




My concern about the painting at this stage clouded my brain, and I continued with all the background, which was another mistake as I was then left with a painting I did not think could be salvaged, and a great mass of white paper in one corner which still had to be painted. I should have stuck to my usual system of painting all the flowers before adding the background, so that there was more chance of getting it right!



With the intention of getting more vibrant colours, I painted the second flower with everything I possessed, watercolour, gouache, acrylic ink and water soluble  pencils. I so didn't like the painting at this stage, that I no longer cared what happened to it, so I approached it with gay abandon, and at times felt like Jackson Pollock on one of his bad days.



The painting did get finished, I still do not think it has a lot to commend it.....too much splatter, too overworked, and the composition could be a lot better......but it has made me think. I share it with you simply to show that even when we think we have a little talent, things can go horribly wrong ......it doesn't always work.

7 comments:

  1. Very interesting post Yvonne and you are too critical of yourself. I imagine that self criticism is one of the keys to your success as a painter. The image is an interesting one and various elements of it work very well, which isn't surprising given your admirable technical ability. I think there is one thing that you could do that might balance the composition for the viewer and that is to place some darker tones against the highlights on the right hand side. At the moment the rich darks on the left draw the eye, they seem better balanced in the penultimate photograph. Hope you don't mind me making suggestions but I do find your work inspiring and your posts prompt thinking about my own process.

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    1. I don't mind the comments at all Mick, I find the whole process very supportive. Even writing the post sets me thinking about my work. I will give the darks on the RH side a go and see if it helps.Each time I walk into the studio, I look at it and think that its maybe just a different type of art. By the time the exhibition is upon me it might have become one of my favourite paintings!! Thanks for taking such an interest.

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  2. This isn't a disaster by any means but not as good as some of your more recent paintings.

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    1. Thanks Peter, its just that the result was so unexpectedly not what I had hoped for. Will keep trying!

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  3. It DOES work Yvonne, the painting is wonderful. You brought the painting to life with the spattering, which I think is just right. Too little and it would look half hearted...you definitely haven't put too much either - as I said you have given it life.

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  4. ps: I like your Indian painting although it only shows up as a thumbnail in my sidebar.

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    1. Thanks for both comments, Ann. The more I look at the lilies, the more it appeals! The Indian portrait is not mine however. Wish it was! Peter Ward (who belongs to the same art group as me ) was having problems with the shape of his paintings when they were posted on his blog. He didn't think I was having the same problem, so he asked me to experiment with one of his and then very quickly publish the post so that he could see it. Once we had discussed the process, I removed the post. If you want to see more of Peters work his site is http://watercolourfanatic.blogspot.com

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