February 17, 2012

Base coat done...now what?

For several months I've been complaining about a painting of some black-eyed Susans that I just can't get right.  Every night I would scrape the unused paint from my palette and place it on that canvas to add texture...some in the center of the flowers and lots on the three central blooms.  My original idea was a soft painting with pastel greens and yellows.  Scratch that.  The whole thing looked flat.

Soft wasn't working so I darkened all the greens and yellows... a little better but nothing special.  You realize, this canvas is three feet high and two feet wide...that's a lot of paint.  

OK... one more time.  This third time of repainting reminded me of my younger years when I used to spend hours colouring in my one inch thick colouring book. Like then, I didn't worry about details or shading, I just laid on the paint and tried to stay inside the lines.

Base coat done, where will it go from here?  I have no idea, but I do like the dynamic contrast.  

work in progress
36" x 24" oil

5 comments:

  1. Beautiful flowers, Bonnie...and love the dark background!

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  2. I loved hearing your thoughts on this WIP, Bonnie. I think it looks marvelous! Can't wait to see it finished!

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  3. I think the background has some beautiful colour gradiation, leave it be and move onto the flowers before you making any further changes. I like your arrangement of the flowers and I look forward to see them filled out.

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  4. I think the background has some beautiful colour gradiation, leave it be and move onto the flowers before you making any further changes. I like your arrangement of the flowers and I look forward to see them filled out.

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