Sunflowers and Hydrangeas Demo

DAA Lobby Demo - Start

I love to look at art and I like to take my time enjoying every piece I see, so I don't mind one bit when there is a need for gallery sitter volunteers.   Today I was the sitter at the Duxbury Art Association Mid-Summer Show.    Would I consider doing a painting while I was minding the shop I was asked?   No problem.   I could look at the art of others and use the time to produce something of my own, a double benefit.

I brought some props with me to use in a still life, but when I got to the Ellison Center in Duxbury, I saw that the beautiful floral arrangements for the Art Party were all set up.   They screamed of summer freshness - sunflowers, hydrangeas and coneflowers.   More than one person were compelled to touch them to see if they were real or artificial, because of their perfection.





DAA Lobby Demo - Finish

My temperature scheme was cool light and warm shadows. I began with my transparent oxides - brown and red - to chisel in the drawing.   The sunflower petals that were in light were done with a cool bright yellow (titanium white, lemon yellow and cad yellow light), and the shaded petals were warm dark yellows (terra rosa, cad yellow deep and a touch of transparent oxide brown).     The hydrangea petals were various shades of lavender (cobalt blue and permanent rose) and in some places light blue (titanium and cobalt blue)   The shady petals actually looked greenish so I used a warm green in some places and a warm violet in other places.     


As I told some of the people who came by to observe,  I think that the painting was at its best about one hour before quitting time.   In the last hour, I may have taken some of the freshness away.    The photo to the right shows the painting at the end of the day.    As always, I will review it in a few days and make any other revisions.