Spring slowly moves towards summer and my rhododendrons’ buds start to unfold into blousy blooms. I tried this before, last week, but over-emphasised the colours and deadened the image. This version looks a bit weak, but the freshness is retained and the lefthand bloom captures the attention to my satisfaction.
Other floral paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
I am still persisting and struggling with floral paintings. At present one of my borders is covered in Oriental Poppies, so I thought it was an opportune time to have a go at them. I also wanted to include the barbed leaves which can be a real feature when the light is right. I must admit it got a bit messy at the end on the left hand side, but I did manage to keep the initial washes on the flowers and some of the leaves on the right and am pleased with the result there.
Before this I had a less successful battle with my forsythia which is a real harbinger of spring here. I wanted the contrast against the clear sky. The mass of tiny flowers and leaves was a difficult ask, and in hindsight I think I need to blow up the small flowers even larger for the thing to work and not resemble a blobby mass.
So one out of two is an improvement on my endeavours of late. There may be some repeats coming this way if I start to find ways to resolve some of my issues. Only time will tell.
Other floral paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
The plan on this one altered as I progressed and the changes may have had a negative impact on the outcome. I wanted a blue/yellow theme going on, cooling and losing some of the petals as well as the foliage, with the distant flowerheads merging into a yellow/green background.
Halfway though I jumped ship, scraped some of the colour off the background flowers and made them brighter and more pronounced. I also brought more flowerheads into focus – having started with just three and hinting at the rest.
Now is a period of reflection – though I do like having something in my hand to ponder over rather than an image in my head. You may not have seen the last of this one.
Other floral paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
I decided to get a collection of flower paintings together for a future exhibition and also as a couple of painting groups have asked for flower demos later in the year. But things are going badly. This was one of lillies (above) will be destined for scrap paper – but at least it’s good practice.
I did manage to get my Camellias into better shape- after posting them earlier and having reservations about them – I had another go – I think this was the third attempt, below. I am happier with this one – but progress is slow.
Other floral art is available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
My camellias are in full bloom at the moment, being in a shady position, they are always a little late. I must admit to taking many photos of them as they have a lush, richness of colour them that is as alluring as it is difficult to reproduce. It took a lot of glazes to get to this position and it could be that I am not finished yet. I have been fiddling around for too long and felt I needed a break to fully appraise this effort. Even looking at the painting on the screen as I write I can see areas that might have been tackled differently. Yeah, you are never quite finished.
Other floral paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.comhttp://grahammcquadefineart.com
Inklings of summer are seeping over the hedge and with it, the promise of yellow roses which sit at the back of the bed close to my decking. I wanted to increase my stock of floral paintings and decided to start with the roses, which I struggled with. Not as loose as I had imagined and wanted but in the end there are some reasons to be cheerful. There may be more flowers in the coming installments.
Other floral paintings area available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
Another floral painting. I had some images of abubrieta hanging off the rocks over my pond in morning light. The flowers are small so I have blown them up and tried to get that mass of blooms that is typical of the plant in early summer.
Other floral paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
