Roses

Now that I have had time to think back on the exhibition and to look at what sold, I was surprised to note that for the first time, I did not sell a single painting of Roses. I have noticed that flowers, like everything, else go in cycles and what is popular for a couple of years seems out of favour the following year, so perhaps it is the turn of the rose to be given a back seat.
At the moment , however, I have a passion for buying roses and I do have quite a few now.Two things prompted me to paint these roses. Firstly I was asked if I would like to hang some of my paintings in one of the luxury holiday apartments in the grounds of Rosemoor Gardens in Devon. Whilst I was there delivering the paintings, I saw a lovely rose in one of the beds, and when I got as far as the shop, I bought one. Its a rose by David Austin called' Morning Mist' There was not one in flower at the time so I have had to wait until now for the second showing to appear, which it has done over the last two weeks. Secondly, I watched a video about some of Daniel Smith's watercolour paints, and loved the colours produced when Quinachridone Coral  was mixed with the yellows, especially Hansa Yellow. I got my hands on the Coral colour at the last group ordering and have been waiting for an opportunity to use it. I thought the new paints and the new rose might go well together.

                                            'Morning Mist' Rose by David Austin

There is nothing special about the process for this painting, except that I am still using the 600gm paper, but primarily because I think I ought to use it seeing as I bought it!

The flowers are painted using combinations of Hansa Yellow, Opera Pink, Pyrol Red and Quinachridone Coral, all by Daniel Smith.

The background was painted with my favourite combination of Indigo and either Quinachridone Rust or Quinachridone Nickel Gold, all by M Graham. The leaves and bud are mixtures of Apatite Green ( Daniel Smith ) and various yellows.

In an attempt to get a few softer edges in the bottom corners, when I had painted in the greens, I lightly sprayed the paper with a little granulation fluid. As it was in a spray bottle, some of the spray hit the petals and the greens bled into them. A really light touch is needed with the spray as it can disperse over a wide area, and the paint bleeds into whatever is wet.

The photo is a little pinker than the painting, and the central flower seems a bit pale in this photo but its near enough to give you some idea of what it looks like.
The painting is 37cm x 27cm on Hahnemuhle Leonardo Matt 600gm paper