Vinca

It's been awhile since last I painted and posted an update on my digital non photo painting of vinca. I had a perfectly good reason....my 6x10 birthday! And my sweet husband whisked me away for a few days at a lovely B&B in northern NE. He wanted to give me opportunity to take photos, sketch, or just get a spa treatment. It was so amazing. The weather cooperated for my photography and the retreat was a wonderful gift.

In the above image you can see I'm deepening the value of the petals by bringing out more of the purples. My challenge is to keep a lightness so they won't appear muddy or flat.


My painting of vinca took a vacation too. However, today together we're making revisions; to celebrate more of life's precious moments and accept imperfections as nature's own paint brush.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

I finished.

Wobbly Bowl

This month's sketchbook challenge is "bowls." Sound simple? That's what I first thought too. Until I began to struggle recreating those simple curves. My eye saw one thing and my pencil another. I need more basic drawing exercises, like sketching without lifting my pencil off the paper. 

This wacky decorative bowl was my first sketch for the challenge. I was given this by my daughters for Christmas one year and I love it for its childlike form and painted designs. So I chose to sketch it in my  8x11 journal. Nearing the end of numerous do overs, I still didn't have the proportions quite correct. But I also knew it was time to let go and accept my sketch. This afternoon was for having fun painting not beating myself up over a wobbly bowl. And once I began painting, I had more fun. Coloring has always been my favorite activity. It was then I noted how its form began to compliment the whimsical painted designs. And I think it works. Well, that's what I'm telling myself.

 Finally, as I was uploading the image I decided to add an opposite bold line graphic photo layer to create background interest.          

This whole challenge has me bowled over. 

Periwinkle

Today I worked to refine the blossoms with more colors and blending. This was more difficult than first  anticipated. For the leaves were finished and any real changes to the size and shape of the blossoms was not going to be easy. So I made adjustments in places that would not throw off the leaves and altered a couple of the petals' shape and toned down the values. I have still have more to do on the painting, but I'm feeling confident that it will be finished in a couple of days.

Vina

 Last night I reworked the bottom right corner of my painting,Vinca. In the previous postings of my painting project, you can see the underpainting of 3 leaves. However, I made a few changes, the largest being the addition of a blue bud. This new and improved grouping really fits nicely into the garden. An individual leaf can take as much as 30 minutes to complete due to my technique of blending pixels. And as I begin a new leaf I try to give it its unique qualities; from varying colorations, details, or texturing.
In the language of flowers, Blue Periwinkle means: Early recollections, friendships, attachments

Background Information below contributed by Language of Flowers

For centuries, flowers, herbs and various plants have given much pleasure to people of all the nations, because their beauty has the unique ability to bring cheer when someone is ill or downhearted, their fragrances can be used to make lovely perfumes, delicate foliage can be used for certain medicines and foods, and pungent smells can bestir mood.

In fact, they have been so outstanding in this regard, that there is no wonder that mankind has attached significant meanings to them… actually going as far as to formulate a language all their own called "floriography." This "language" was particularly utilized during the Victorian era; however, flowers well into past generations have had religious and symbolic meanings, and still do today.

History relates that during the reign of Queen Victoria, in England, which lasted from 1837 to 1901, (known as the Victorian era) the language of flowers was as important to people as being "well dressed." For example, the recognizable scent of a particular flower, plant or perhaps a scented handkerchief sent its own unique message.
Those of the Victorian era liked to make up bouquets. Tussie-Mussies were generally very well liked gifts. These were small bouquets of flowers wrapped in a lace doily and tied with satin. The intrigue of secret messages sent this way, became a popular pastime.

Vinca 2

I don't usually post steps and explanations of my incomplete work, but having followed other artists' blogs that do, I really appreciate their insights. As for my painting, I've been trying to figure out just how and what I want to include. For example, how many blossoms do I want to sketch, how will I tackle the upper right corner, how will the leaves be grouped, and then returning to the initial blossoms for more details? Part of my difficulty is due to my lack of preplanning. I began this as a doodle and one thing led to another. In any event I'm learning a lot about digital painting. And for those that might be curious what program I'm using; it's the old photoshop elements 6. This is not a photo painting, rather my art using digital brushes.

I'm going back to the garden for more photo and pencil images to help me address these questions.

Just a quick update. I just found a 6 petaled blossom! Normally there are only five. I'm leaning towards placing this in the upper right. If not, at least I stumbled across something special. Perhaps, even lucky?

I'm just now updating my earlier post with my decision for the upper right corner. No surprise actually, I chose my 6 point find. I'm still going to tweak the center and add a bit more white to accent the 6 pointed star design. But that will have to wait until tomorrow. All gardeners needs their sleep.

Vinca

Yesterday I began my next digital painting. My inspiration was the ground cover,vinca, blooming in my backyard. The tiny blue-purple 5 star petals were popping in and out of view among their lovely deep green leaves.

I approached this painting a bit differently from my former digital works. Instead of manipulating the color pixels from a photo,(see last posting's description on this method), I began as I would any painting ; sketching onto a blank file or canvas. My reference guide is a photo and or a visit outdoors.

 I can imagine at some point digitally painting plein-air. Perhaps artists are already doing this. I'd love to hear  about their experiences.
I'll do a bit more this morning,then it's time to get dirty and pull weeds, rake, dig, and prune. Ahhhhh spring!

Eat Pray Hop

The last couple of days I've been having fun in my digital sketchbook. And like many of my pieces my imagination hops around quite a bit. Often directing me to new and creative places.

For example, this wonky lil'bunny was actually a paint peeling from the surface of a cement foundation. I took the photo for that reason (see below). However, I didn't know how I'd use the image until I began painting a very neat texture.
 I tried various color hues and decided to use a spring green for bugsy which contrasted nicely with the background. Finally, I thought of placing text, something I don't usually do, just for fun.

Hope you enjoy your weekend with a little eating, praying, or hopping.