Old Rose

"Old Rose"
36" x 36"Oil on wrapped canvas 

This rose faced my placesetting at a dinner party for my friend.  She was the only full-blown one in the bunch. I commented on the way her petals curled and the host sent me home with the entire bunch. The next morning all of them looked like this! I photographed them and have hundreds of images from which to choose.

I began painting in the corners, swirling burnt umber and mineral violet toward the soft edges of the outermost petals. I worked toward the center with lighter and lighter passes. Then when the values were right I began to add glazes of color until the center was rosey enough to be my focal point.

This painting is listed with, and for sale through Dailypaintworks.com.

Thank you for visiting,

Carol

Jubilant Hibiscus



"Jubilant Hibiscus"
16" x 20"
Oil on wrapped canvas


This jubilant hibiscus and eleven more like her had just been offloaded from a truck when I pulled into the garden center.  Snow was still drifted against the greenhouse where she'd remain until all threats of frost were over.  


I painted this with a brush, as I had done most of my paintings until two years ago.  It was a nice painting, but lacked an overall warmth.  When she was totally dry I glazed over parts of her with a touch of cad yellow.  I used a piece of sponge to buff in the essence of sunshine. She's no longer just nice.

Thank you for visiting,
Carol

Rose #3

"Rose #3"
24" x 24"
Oil on gessoed panel 

It was evening when I found her yawning into her sleeve.  She had sung her last lullaby and kissed dew drops onto the buds tipping the branches of her sinewy stem. 

I enjoy making square paintings. The corners become important, and need to be different in shape, value and edge. Placing a round flower in a square format can be successful if there's a sense of motion around the center, not just like a dart stuck in the center, with no chance to meander.

Thank you for visiting,
Carol

Rose #2

"Rose #2"
  24" x 24"
Oil on gessoed panel 

When "Morning Rose" (see the post from Saturday, July 23rd) was purchased and shipped to Colorado I was left with a vacancy in my series.  I revisited my reference photos and cropped her lovely face into a square.  She is currently hanging as a companion piece to "Rose #3".

Here I faced the issue of placing a round subject in a square format again. I must enjoy the challenge.  If I recall correctly, the deceased artist Michael Gerry delighted in the same pleasure. He made a living painting large single blooms, many of them square.  

Thank you for visiting,

Carol

Hobnail Peek-a-boo



"Hobnail Peek-a-boo"
20" x 16"
Oil on wrapped canvas



When my mother's old hobnail fan vase toppled, cherries rolled all over my setup.  I did a quick glance for damage control and noticed, probably, the culprit hiding behind the foot of the small vase.  His contorted grimace of guilt gave him away.  You can roll, but you can't hide! 

I enjoyed working with the red-orange and and blue-green complements in this painting. The reflections were fun to isolate and place accurately.  In the end, however, I needed some of the red in the opposite corner and placed some decorative brushwork up there. It added a bit of chaotic whimsy to the piece.

Thank you for visiting,

Carol





Peonies, Lilacs and Limes

Peonies, Lilacs and Limes
18" x 24"
Oil on canvas 

I filled my favorite bowl with the last peonies of the season and the first of the hedge lilacs in my neighborhood. The fragrance was heady while I shot my reference photos. When I finished I sliced a lime to squeeze into a glass of seltzer.  One of the key limes rolled into my setup, so I shot one last photo.

The composition of this painting is daring.  It's an inverted triangle, to begin with. There are soft balls, hard balls, pink balls, green balls, crystal balls, ruffled petals and rumpled cloth. And it's painted in my favorite set of complements, red and green.  It's also cropped just like this—equidistant from every edge.  Formal in its presentation, yet casual and inviting.

Thank you for visiting,
Carol 

Candy! Hearts!

"Candy! Hearts!"
16" x 20"
Oil on wrapped canvas

Judy loves candy as much as she loves hearts.  So when I stacked her heart-shaped containers behind my heart-shaped candy dish filled with chocolates she giggled.  Now Judy loves me, too!

This composition was a bit tricky to stage because I set it up on polar fleece! The items kept sliding.  AND it was just as hard to execute. The whites had so much reflected color to capture. And the only real white was in the highlights.  So many reflections! 

Thank you for visiting,

Carol 

Peony Vase

"Peony Bowl"
10"x 8"
Oil on wrapped canvas

I have two bushes of pale pink peonies tucked in close to the south side of my house. They thrive in that protected environment, and I revel in their early blooms. By the time spring comes to the suburbs of Chicago I'm not only grateful for their robust blossoms, but their fragrant surge of spice.  

This small painting is a study for a larger piece. I addressed some of the problems of its reflections, values, buds/no buds, cool light, warm shadows, etc.  I know what I want to do now.  I hope to begin the large piece in two weeks, at which time I'll post the progression from photo to drawing, through finished piece.  Goals. I love goals.

Thank you for visiting,

Carol

Morning Rose

Morning Rose
30" x 40"
Oil on wrapped canvas

During a rare morning walk through the Chicago Botanic Gardens I discovered sunlight having its way with this rose. She blushed at being discovered, but posed, nonetheless. 

Here's where my style of sponge painting began! This white flower had so many colors in it, I had to figure out a way to paint the petals, yet maintain a believable white. Being self-taught, I was not limited by someone else's ideas, so I sliced off the end of my husband's car wash sponge and swirled a breath of color onto dry titanium white. I repeated the process with yellows and reds and blues until she looked like this!  She sold immediately.

Scarlet Aria

Scarlet Aria
Oil on Masonite panel
24" x 24" 

It was late in the season for day lilies. But a cluster was still performing on a slope, across the Serpentine Bridge at the Chicago Botanic Gardens.  The green-throated beauties warbled in close proximity to white hibiscus blossoms the size of luncheon plates. 

Once again, I worked my sponge from the outside in, anxious to paint the stamens.  I knew they'd be my final touches—with a scruffy little brush!  I also had to make sure the pistil didn't lead my eye off the right side by paying attention to value and edges.  

Rose #6

"Rose # 6"
Oil on wrapped canvas
20" x  20"

The photo for the painting of the rose above was shot at the Chicago Botanic Gardens in Glencoe, a year ago.  It was evening, before a concert on the Esplanade.  The music was as lively as the flounce of her petticoats.  Even with another 154 luscious images in my camera, I knew I would commit her to canvas within a year. 

I first establish my darks, usually around the perimeter, and swirl them with a piece of sponge, (see yesterday's post) mixing a cool green with the warm red I'll use in the center of the rose. I pay attention to the values in the photo on my digital screen, but ignore most of that detail. I'm merely creating a soft foil to tuck behind the main player. 

Thank you for visiting,

Carol

Pansy

"Pansy"
Oil on wrapped canvas
36" x 36"

I shot the reference photo for "Pansy" in Winter Park, Colorado last summer when I visited artist, Karen Vance.  There was nothing different between Illinois pansies and Colorado pansies, BUT this one reminded me of Marilyn Monroe's skirt in "The Seven Year Itch."

All of "Pansy" and many of my large, single bloom images have been painted with—a sponge.  Yes, even the tiny, hard-edged veins.  Probably your mind has conjured at least three different kinds of sponge by this time, but I'm not here to tease.  The magical tool is a masonry sponge.  Looks like an orange brick.

To reiterate, I paint with water miscible oils that dry faster than traditional oils, especially when applied thin.  I swirl on color with a snippet of sponge the size of a pack of chewing gum, wait for each layer to dry, and then swirl sheer glazes of color over each dry area.  The darker values of purple and yellow, above, were done in layers, not ala prima. Being a recovering watercolorist and a muralist/faux finisher, the use of non-traditional materials just comes naturally.  And over the next few days, I'll explain even more as you view additional pieces.

Thank you for visiting,
Carol

Kimono

"Kimono"
Oil on wrapped canvas
24" x 24" 

When Rosa was seven months pregnant she asked me to paint a portrait of her vessel.  She put on my antique kimono and formed a heart around her belly button.  It was exactly the look I was going for.

I enjoyed painting the sheen and shadows on the satin.  And when it was dry enough, I put in the flowers and pagodas.  There was even a moment of occupational confusion as I did her nails. 


Sorry, this one's not for sale.


Thank you for visiting.
Carol

Losing My Marbles

"Losing My Marbles"
Oil on panel
16" x 16"

It seems appropriate that my first blog post is titled "Losing My Marbles."  I must be out of my mind to commit to another responsibility.  Yet I write and paint every day, so I may as well combine the effort and go public.  I plan to enjoy it, I hope you will, too.


I photographed this tea cup with a some hand blown marbles tumbling out of it a year ago.  Meanwhile, it's been sitting in queue waiting to be painted.  There was so much glazing in this piece that it took longer to paint than I anticipated.  I use water soluble oils, with no medium, so drying time is a bit faster than with traditional oils, and I can glaze over particular areas with sheer layers of color to add depth and color.  That's a technique borne of my watercolor background.  The translucency of the tea cup in shadow shows the exterior design of the bone china cup.

Thank you for visiting. 

Carol