Crocus III

I came away from my studio feeling very positive about the direction this painting is going.  This a huge turnaround from how I felt yesterday - once again I struggled against the panic and fear that seems to go with working creatively for me.  I did win out in the end.  I pushed past the fear and walked into the studio, sat down and started the routine of preparing my paints, etc.  It's amazing how routine can quiet the mind and absorb fear.

Anyway...I worked more on improving the shadows in the petals.  I read somewhere (maybe James Gurney?) that objects that face the sky will reflect blue in their shadows, while objects that face the ground will reflect reds/browns in theirs.  I could see that effect in my reference photo, so I tried my best to follow it.

Then I worked to define the veins in the petals.  One thing I've definitely learned from this project is that when you are doing veining, do them first.  Veins should be under the shadows not above them.  It doesn't show well in the picture, but in the real painting it looks to me like the veins are above the shadows.  I also decided to darken the areas behind the flower to better allow the flower to "pop" in the painting.  After this I decided that this was about as much damage as I wanted to commit and chose to remove the masking on the pistils.

After looking at my reference photo for a bit, I decided that it would be easier to mask over the dark portions behind the pistils in the middle.  This way I could work unimpeded and the values would be more fluid.

I've never added masking to a painted surface before, and I noticed that the colour started to move into the masking.  I'm really hoping that this doesn't mean that the mask is absorbing some of the pigment.  We won't know until I lift the mask unfortunately, but if it has, I am determined to try to paint the dark areas back in.  I decided to prep my paints and palette for the oranges and yellows needed in the pistils and then I started my first wash.  I kept going, adding darks and lifting lights until I started making mistakes.  Then I figured I'd quit while I was ahead :)

We're not quite done yet, there's more definition to put into the pistils, but I can definitely see the finish line!  I like how the orange of the pistils has added some warmth and life to the painting - not just a focal point.  If you compare this image to the one above, before I added pigment, the painting seems very cool and lifeless I think.

Crocus II

We had glorious weather this weekend - I was finally able to tackle all the dead brick-a-brack in my garden and yard!  It's been driving me crazy ever since the snow started to melt!  The only downside is that today I am VERY sore.  And also weary in a sore muscle sort of way (does that make sense?).  So because of this I had to push myself into the studio today.

I figured that since I wasn't as "in touch" with painting as I have been, that I should take things slow and follow the steps.

I added some shadows on the right hand petals with a bit of blue (perhaps too much in some spots and not enough in others), finished the bottom-most petal and tested out some dark in the corner.  I also added some more red/pink to the top petal and attempted to darken the veins.  But for some reason I didn't feel that was enough and decided to add a bit more.

I added some shadow to the bottom-most petal and some dark contrast in the centre of the flower.  There's also a bit of work on the left-most petal and some more dark in the other two corners.  I had to force myself to stop at this point.  I could feel the painting getting away from me and there are some definite oopsies already!  

It's nice to work with the dark tones because I can neaten up my edges a bit.  Also it's bringing the flower out a bit which I like.  I'm surprised at how much more I can see needs to be done though.  I had expected this to be a faster process than it is.  It gets tricky when you are trying to only work in one area at a time so you don't have any bleeding of pigment.  I have to wait for everything to dry before I move on, but I can already see that I need to dull down the blue in the one petal, darken another and enhance the veins in at least two petals.  And then I get to work on the pistils!

I really like taking the pictures of the painting in process.  For one, it makes the image smaller so the mistakes don't stand out as much (always nice).  For another, it allows me to take the image away from the studio so I can see it with fresher eyes and better determine what it needs.

I'm already starting to plan out the next project.  I can't decide if I want to take a break from painting and do a pencil portrait or if I want to try out a different watercolour technique.  We'll just have to wait and see!