Moody Blues : Delphiniums

This week at Avon Valley Artists was a bit strange!
The subject was 'Moody Blues', any interpretation, any medium. I, of course, chose to paint some flowers, so I looked out a source photo from the great amount that I have amassed and was surprised how few, by comparison to other colours that were in the folders,

I chose a couple of straightforward photos of Delphiniums and though they would do.

The evening before the group meeting, I used a sheet of Cornwall 450g matt paper and produced the background wash for the painting. I lightly sprayed the paper with clear water and then dropped paint onto the wet surface, using dark, medium and lilac based blues.

As I was going top have to give the flowers some definition, I used a little ball of tissue paper to blot out small areas of paint within the bands of colour whilst the paper was still very damp.

I then left the painting to dry completely over night knowing that, at this weight, the paper would return to completely flat once dry.

The following morning, off I went to the group. As we were setting up ready to work, I laughingly said that I would make the coffee and chat all morning as I thought the background wash was a painting in its own right. I was joking of course, but after all those interested had had a good look, they agreed and refused to allow me to touch the work.

This meant that I had no prepared paper for a mornings work, in fact I had no paper at all. I had to 'borrow' a sheet from a friend and set to,  to produce something for the critique at the end, even though this could be an unfinished piece of work

I do not know if we are right or not, but I now have two paintings of  'Delphiniums' both from the same source material, one very delicate and abstract and the other much more full on and hopefully fulfilling the 'Moody Blues' bit !!
I include both paintings here for you to judge for yourselves.

                                                         
                                                           Cornwall 450gm Matt Paper
                                                                       Wash only

                                                    Fabriano Artistico Rough 300g Paper
                                                             Wash and over painting