Sunday 26 October 2014

Another go at Roses



The mild weather is playing tricks in my garden and some things are beginning to produce a second flourish! I have 2 large opium poppies ready to flower again which I have never seen before, but do not know if we will have enough sunshine to bring them fully open!
It also means that there are a number of roses out at the moment, two or three on each bush, so it seemed like a good time to have another go at painting them.

I started with one 'Peace' rose, which I photographed from various angles, and used these to make the initial drawing. I think I used mixtures of Yellow Ochre and Indian Yellow for the hearts and Opera Pink and Quinachridone pink for the flushed edges.


Using the same technique as so often described, I painted as close to the pencil line as possible and then erased it once the paint was totally dry.
I worked one flower at a time, adding bits of green and some background (this gave me the edges of the white petals ).


When all the flowers were painted and the leaves, buds and stems added, I put in a dark background of mainly Indigo and Ultra Marine, together with odd patches of the Quinachridone Magenta. I always try to put the colours of the subject into the background.
I then tried to lose some of the edges by adding washes of white Acrylic Gouache.



I am not really sure it worked, but I did enjoy doing it and whilst I had some roses I was determined to give it another go.

This time it was a couple of pink roses, but I put a wash on the paper before starting as I though this might be a better way of losing some of the edges and keeping the painting a bit freer.




When the background was dry ( Still Qinachridone Magenta and a little Opera Pink, being especially careful with the green as this will give dull colours if allowed to mix)

I then did the drawing and tried to work the roses into the patches of wash in the background.


Again, it was one flower at a time, and removing the pencil lines as I progressed.

When I had finished painting the flowers, I was not sure if I needed leaves and stems, so I will live with it a little while before deciding, but one thing for sure, I am really pleased with this one!!



12 comments:

  1. I like them both - they are perfect. I was interested that you put the background in after the flowers on the first one as I had been shown you must do a background first and it has been holding me back a lot! I will not worry so much now about previous advice and just enjoy the process. It really helps that you explain the method you are using as otherwise it would be a complete mystery to me how you arrive at such beautiful conclusions! Your second one is equally successful.

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  2. Quite right.....just enjoy finding your own way to do things. I use all three methods, background first, washes first and background last. If I had a pound for each time I am asked which way I do it, I would be a rich woman. However, beginners are told which way to tackle a subject as a help towards getting a result which is good enough to encourage them, so if you go to a class, do not ignore the advice of the professional, but try other ways at home. Hope that helps.

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  3. Replies
    1. Thank you, Barbara. I am pleased you like the paintings. What a lovely comment.

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  4. Missed seeing your wonderful work and glad to say that your quality is as high as ever. Wonderful.

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  5. Hi Mick. Great to hear from you again. Thanks for the comment

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  6. I came across you while browsing Pinterest. Your art is absolutely amazing. What I would give to find such a talented teacher here in Austin, Texas. Sigh!
    I have stumbled across a treasure. Thank you for sharing:-)

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  7. Thanks for the comment, Marjorie. I am sorry I did not reply sooner, but I did not have an e mail alert of the arrival of your comment, so failed to spot it. Anyway, thank you for the lovely comments, and I hope you continue to enjoy the posts

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