Thursday, 28 March 2013

Blue Blossom

This mornings subject at Avon Valley Artists, or rather the task, was to produce a painting from a given squiggle. we do this once a year with the idea of stretching our imaginations to produce a reasonable result from a few pencil lines, without any source material to help us. The lines are very simple and are usually produced by one of our members grandchildren. We had two from which to choose. We then have to reproduce the design onto our painting paper, any size and any way around, but there is a reliance on everyone reproducing the line as faithfully as possible.


I can nearly always find a way to paint something floral, and as this is what I enjoy most, I never apologise for producing just that!

No prizes for guessing, therefore. which line I selected, and in my customary way, I started with a two/three colour wash which I allowed to dry and then drew and painted the piece below, using the lower line drawing as my starting point.


It is surprisingly difficult for lots of the group to paint without any source material at all, and I found that I had put in too much green in the centre of the painting and it was quite difficult to get any freshness in the flowers when trying to paint the central blooms.

I had taken some paper that I rarely use as it seemed a pity to waste expensive paper, as I had no idea what I was going to be doing, but I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed working on this textured paper...'Cornwall'....especially as it is a heavy duty paper which did not need stretching, and hardly buckled at all, despite keeping most of the image quite wet throughout the session. It is a paper with a hard surface, which helps keep the paint on the surface, which gives a freshness to the work, in this case to the original wash, and also paint can be very easily lifted if required.
I do not pretend that the flowers have a name,but I will be happy to give the painting a mount and put it in the browser at the exhibition. I will leave you to work out where the original lines are in the painting!


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12 comments:

  1. Peter Ward28 March 2013 at 19:19

    A very nice painting on an inexpensive paper. Why do we buy cotton based at twice the price? It certainly is food for thought.

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  2. Yvonne Harry28 March 2013 at 19:28

    Thanks Peter. You are right, the paper worked very well, and I had not realised that it is brilliant white, even more so than Fabriano Artistico extra white. You have to allow for the unusual texture though. I will certainly give it another go. I also liked the way it was so easy to soften or lift out edges etc.

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  3. Lorraine Brown28 March 2013 at 22:52

    What a fantastic result Yvonne, your creativity was in its element and served you well something as you say not every one can paint without a reference. I find it really produces the best results and allows for great freedom and imagination

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  4. Yvonne Harry29 March 2013 at 10:07

    Thanks, Lorraine. You are right. It does make you use your imagination. It is always a great 'fun' topic as well!

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  5. Unknown30 March 2013 at 19:09

    When watching you paint this one I was surprised to see how easy it was to wash out areas leaving a fresh clean surface and the finish on the paper gave the painting a nice fresh look to it.The squiggle is not an easy topic, but fun.

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  6. Yvonne Harry30 March 2013 at 19:38

    Interesting paper, isn't it! If you want to try apiece just let me know! Thanks for leaving a comment, Jan.

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  7. Anonymous1 April 2013 at 16:31

    So glad I discovered your blog. I have struggled with painting flowers in a loose manner. Thanks for sharing your techniques. I am enthused to give it a try. Love your loose approach and it is so effective.

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  8. Yvonne Harry2 April 2013 at 17:48

    Welcome, Jean. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. I do try for a loose approach, but it does not always work. However I am always happy to share tips with others. Please always ask if you want to know something I forget to mention. Happy painting

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  9. Janice Kay Schaub29 June 2015 at 02:58

    The colour is exquisite. I love blue but please, what colour is that blue that you used.? It is almost periwinkle with pink and lavender.........beautiful flowers. They do not need a name, I am sure they thrive somewhere.
    Janice

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  10. Yvonne Harry30 June 2015 at 16:38

    Thanks for the lovely comments. It is a long time ago since I painted these flowers, but I suspect the blues are combinations of Cadmium and French Ultramarine Blues with something like Quinachridone Magenta to give the hints of purple. Hope that is helpful.

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  11. Miriam Morales17 January 2016 at 03:39

    Lovely paintings! I wonder if there are any video tutorials on YouTube or somewhere else where we can see you at work, and learn still more.

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  12. carol b4 June 2016 at 02:06

    Hi I also would love to see your work and style on YouTube. Please consider, and thanks for this great blog.

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