30/30 Challenge - Solitary Rose - Days 17-18-19

I decided to tackle something a little sweeter smelling after the experience from the last few days!

What better than a Rose? Roses are one of the most beautiful flowers (my other favorite is the peony), but I find them challenging because of all the intricate details. They have a lot of color shapes and values within the overall shape which can make them seem too complicated to tackle. I found however, that if you can describe the main perimeter shape and the main basic interior shape, they are much easier to handle... and remember it isn't necessary to paint each and every little detail unless that is your painting style.

Day 17 

If you read my blog from Day 16, you will perhaps understand why I chose this paint subject and why it is only started. Nevertheless, I am still painting each day, and that's a very good thing.

Materials are acrylic primed linen sheet and my usual bristle brushes and color palette. The rose is and off-white silk type, and while it has a softer look that a real freshly picked bloom, it won't wilt on me while I'm getting my time schedule back on track. It is sitting in the little purple box with glass for reflections.

Wishing myself more time tomorrow to complete!

Day 18

I was working on this while the Seahawks game was on, so that blew the 'more time' idea. If you didn't see it, it was quite an amazing game with the adrenaline in overdrive; the Seahawks won the game in overtime after being behind for a good portion of the game! They are going to the Super Bowl!! I think in all the excitement, I got a little heavy handed. The paint is thicker in places it should be thinner and I was confusing the values. Maybe work with fewer values in the painting even if I see more in the set up. Some of the color also seems too intense. I'm not yet satisfied with the reflection either.

With this many areas in question, it might be a good idea, to scrape down and adjust. The lesson here, again, is to simplify.


Day 19

Day three on one small painting is my methodical brain going full tilt! After posterizing the first painting image in photoshop to simplify the image with fewer values and see what/where would work. This process isn't completely fool proof, but it is another way of evaluating what you've done.

Using the converted image with other judgments (the result of course is still judgment/opinion).

I didn't scrape everything before I started making changes, alas, I started to notice a few other things that I could do!

So this is the end result and time to move on... you may not be able to see the subtle changes, but one TIP to share is that the angle of the flower can make a difference on the complexity of what your painting. I'll be exploring this idea further in the very near future, and may do a black and white study in painting first using only 5 values to see how it translates from that... it may sound funny to some of you, but I'm really having fun training my eye to values - sooooo important in painting!

Thanks for reading...