Challenges

Many artists have found their “fit’ and become well known for a particular type of painting – portraits, animals, landscapes etc.  Me, I paint what appeals to me at the moment.  I try to challenge myself by trying subjects that I haven’t yet painted, hoping one of these days to find my perfect “fit”.  I have shied away from painting flowers, don’t know why but I have, and so I took a deep breath and chose a reference photo I took this summer at the Denver Arboretum.  It’s of a water lily and my photo was shock full of floating leaves, many many HUGE leaves.  The more I worked on them the more I enjoyed the process.  Here’s the work in progress and, remember, I love using colors.  If you look very very closely at nature you will see colors where you didn’t think you’d find them.

I had already drawn the composition in my sketch pad and then transferred it onto the pastelmat paper before I decided to take progress shots, so in this first photo I have worked a lot on the leaves. I’m saving the dreaded flower until last!

Still avoiding the flower and working on the water.

Started to work on the flower.

Here’s my little corner of the world showing the flower progression.

I can’t say that I loved doing the flower as it was very difficult to get that inner glow, but I’m satisfied enough with it to stop.  If you find yourself in Denver make time to visit the arboretum as it’s a beautiful place to spend a few hours.