Romantic Botanicals #32

The Housebound Adventurer

or Lacy Underthings

Lilac Bush in the gusty rainy weather.

I am painting inside looking out of our side door. It is has been bucketing down rain and now windy too. Too windy for my plastic hut. I am cold and tired. Rick has gone to Quebec City.

This painting is lighter than the photo. The background is graffiti like drawing of leaves. The lilacs are sculpted in with chopping brush mark and are heavy and full. The leaves are thin and smeared to swish in the wind. I love the heavy light contrasts in this work making it playful/moody.

romantic botanicals #32, The Housebound Adventurer  May 31,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

Romantic Botanicals #31

Pickpocket Alley

Yarrow is a native prairie plant that I put in our back alley plot.

The neighbour, his brother and their friends are packing bikes in a trailer because they are going camping to Falcon Lake. It looks like fun. One says," It looks like a great day to paint"  I think "Every day is a great day to paint." It is garbage day and I wish I had thought of that before I started. The recycling, garbage and yard waste truck go down our narrow alley at different times. One driver stops and says he is an artist too. He asks to look at my painting so I show it to him. He says "You got anything else?" His coworkers squish the yard waste while we talk and stinky water splashes out beside me and I turn my painting away and block it with my body.

This is another Gothic piece with it's dark background and frail but lively figures in the foreground. This is my first ever painting of Yarrow. It is a tall and skinny plant like a street urchin waif that is underfed. I try many things in the background, light turquoise gradation, the other plants but I wipe it off several time and go back to the somber background I started with. I fought with it to make it cheerier but it is what it is and I let it be.

romantic botanicals #31, Pickpocket Alley  May 30,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

It is nice to meet other artists in most circumstances. I sit here and think I need to be painting the garage.

Romantic Botanicals #30

Ask Me

 

Lilly of the Valley makes wonderful, intoxicating perfume. 

My daughter is going to a party today and she heard that someone is going to ask her to grade 6 grad at the party. This influences my piece. I see crowds of kids bending towards each other, gossiping chatting. This is an 8 hour painting. My other daughter says "You should feel good about this, it means you are dedicated to your craft and don't have something like writers block."So I try to be patient with myself and squeeze the rest of my life obligations into what is left of the day.

I want the main colour to be a deep green. Half way through I want to have more variety so I look up paintings with green dresses. I like the older colour palette as it seems more romantic. I use a Gainsborough as colour reference and pull in grey turquoise and a bit of yellow ocher. This work has mountain and valley feeling with fresh delicate bells and flowing leaves.

romantic botanicals #30, Ask Me,  May 29,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

The hut let me paint through the bits of rain.

Thomas Gainsborough, portrait of a lady, possibly Elizabeth White, Mrs Hartley, c.1786-7

Romantic Botanicals #29

I am not Your Fallback Guy

Today is my son's pool party. I start painting at 7:30 am so I can be done before the party. Ack - another long painting. Ack - I am in the hut and don't stand back enough, so up close it looks amazing but from 4 ft away it is washed out. At the end I stand up and need to rework.

This painting is full and has lovely scratchy details. The hundreds of flowers have long stamen which translate into a lacy edges. There are so many choices for the pollinators and I make the image to represent that. Your eyes have a hard time choosing where to settle.

romantic botanicals #29, I am not Your Fallback Guy,  May 28,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

see it looks different up close

Romantic Botanicals #28

Finished With Finishing School

I have never painted this bush before. Cluster structure flowers overwhelm me. Today I jump in. But first I rebuild my plastic bamboo hut with instructions from Haiti relief plans for shelters called Reciproboo .  It works! Even though there is only little bits of rain it helps because I don't have to constantly watch the sky.

This work has high contrast and is explosivly fragmented. I like the delicate but blasted out feeling. It makes me think of a wild west finishing school where a tomboy gets kicked out of.

romantic botanicals #28, Finished With Finishing School,  May 27,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

I have my own private room in the yard

I would never have designed this cool structure on my own but I built it on my own

"Portrait of an Elderly Lady" by Mary Cassatt. 1887 oil on canvas. I used this colour pallet for today's painting.  I searched for paintings with white dresses in them and this came up and I wanted it for today's work.

 

Romantic Botanicals #27

The Pale Companion

"Cloudy. Showers beginning this morning. Risk of a thunderstorm this afternoon. Fog dissipating this morning."This forecast has me worried about being trapped and not painting. The thunderstorm part has me fretting that my ladder is not sufficient. So I spend a good chunk of the day building a bamboo plastic structure. The thoughtful builder next door who is building a house looked at it and said "You will be OK unless it gets windy." I feel a bit embarrassed of my tiny makeshift falling down building.  I need to redesign my hut maybe combine it with the ladder. But not today it is 4pm and I need to paint. Time to hop into the hut. The lighting is diffused and soft in my plastic hut and it influences my work. This pale pink piece is soft and almost transparent feeling.  Tiny clovers float away from the two strawberry plants. I like how the two plants subtly lean into each other.  This is a two hour painting and the brush strokes are fresh and evident allowing the viewer to see every decision I make. romantic botanicals #27, The Pale Companion,  May 26,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12" building the hut I forget to take  a photo while I am in it. Here it is after I finish and take it off of me like a large turtle shell.

Romantic Botanicals #26

The Shy Spinster

Blue eyed grasses again.  A cyclist rides by and says that my painting is beautiful. A positive drive by crit.

This is a murky shy piece.

romantic botanicals #26, The Shy Spinster,  May 25,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

Oona takes my photo at lunch time

Romantic Botanicals #25

Blue Eyed Wild Thing

This is native prairie plant called Blue-Eyed Grasses. I planted them a few years ago.

Ok, yes I am painting under a ladder. I worry that I may look odd but I would only be truly crazy if I kept painting under this ladder when the sun is out. The ladder/plastic hidey hole keeps the rain off. The sun bursts out and I feel that I am in a mini green house so I take off the ladder contraption. Ha see, I am sane.

I mix my palette while looking at Thomas Gainsborough's Blue Boy painting on the computer. Blue-Boy, Blue-Eyed grass seemed samesees. I love the swirling dried grass contrasted with the upright fresh grass. The six petaled flowers and the five circling bees just blend in.

romantic botanicals #25, Blue Eyed Wild Thing,  May 24,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

ladder/plastic contraption. My Dad first made one of these in BC so I could paint his blackberry patch in the rain.

it works!

when cloudy the flowers close up

Sun opens the flowers wide

If only this active caterpillar would crawl onto my grass I would paint it.

the paintings are pileing up in my house

I need a much much longer shelf to hold them all.

and some wet ones too

Romantic Botanicals #24

The Lilac Twins at Castle Moor

I butt my easel right up in the bower of lilacs. The fragrance is intoxicating.

I want a cool purple matched with a warm purple but I don't change my pallet from yesterday therefore I have less colour control. There are these set steps that I have developed. If I don't follow them the painting becomes a bit more tricky. Put easel at flower height. Sketch in pencil. Measure plant with said pencil while sketching. Lay out fresh palette of paint. Spend at least 1/2 hour mixing paint. After that it is just self care, drink lots of water, wear a hat, take breaks, take breaks to eat, and stretch. Oh and make sure all the dishes are done and the kids are fed before I start.

This is a Gothic painting. It's smearing dreary dark background is the backdrop for the main characters, the fresh faced but many faceted and spiky lilac twins. I paint it all crisp with a background I really like but it feels too busy and I want the spiky nature of the cluster flower structure to be the main focus so I blur the background out. Now it is not as well painted but it has a definite mood.

romantic botanicals #24, The Lilac Twins at Castle Moor,  May 23,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

backyard companions

yellow bird visitor

Romantic Botanicals #23

All Eligible Women to Launch Pad 23

This is a pussy toes prairie native plant.  It's fuzzy flower looks like a cat's paw, the bottom view. Wind gusting to 60 km and cloudy. I have a cardboard on top of my palette so no one blows in. Everyone passes by doing stuff, too and fro from sleepovers and kite flying excursions.

I sit here for 5.5 hours... aah my back hurts. The pussy toe is so different, weird looking that I work extra hard explaining it in paint. I go for a heavy outline to delineate it. I choose a orange colour found in the pine needles and pop it back and forth with a pale purple. This accentuates the strangeness.

romantic botanicals #23, All Eligible Women to Launch Pad 23,  May 22,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

see my cardboard palette cover

my daughter walking by with a green kite

everyone goes by me even a bunny

Romantic Botanicals #22

Birthday Wishes

Today is my son's 10th birthday. I start painting at 7:20 in the morning so I can finish early and take him to Sky zone the trampoline place and do birthday stuff. The light is soft and it is cool and breezy. It is nice and peaceful when I start.

Morning light makes soft purples then overhead sun turns the world into sharp contrasts. I paint, then I  repaint. It gets confusing but I must stop at 1:30 argh... that is 6 hours straight painting. I like the feeling of riding the wave of risk that this painting brings out.

romantic botanicals #22, Birthday Wishes  May 21,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

Romantic Botanicals #21

Mr. Fantastic's Perfect Aim

The Strawberries have ants pollinating them. The construction workers work next door. One fixes our railing that has been broken for a few years. Very kind of our neighbors. 

As I fell asleep last night I envisioned a soft pink painting with dark grey and purple outlines. That is what I was set on making but when I am at the canvas make an extension of the last two day's paintings. a dark forest floor with magical tiny flowers springing up.

romantic botanicals #21, Mr. Fantastic's Perfect Aim,  May 20,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

Romantic Botanicals #20

Mr. Fantastic and the Strawberry Ball

Both girls are home sick again.  I can hear one daughter coughing while I paint.

The strawberry leaves are bold and I paint them in a fun graphic style to keep the image bright and simple. The bees swoop around never stopping at the flowers. The ants seem to be the pollinators. One bee crawls into a hole in the dirt beside the strawberry I am painting so I paint it. The strawberry runners loop around too.

romantic botanicals #20, Mr. Fantastic and the Strawberry Ball,  May 19,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

New white paint arrives in the mail just in time I am out of white.

Romantic Botanicals #19

Mr. Fantastic and the Strawberry Season

Both my daughters are home sick. They are 12 and 14 but I still feel neglectful sitting out in the front yard painting while they are inside watching a movie.

I paint the strawberry plants red and pink because that is the colour of their fruit. I want depth so I paint the distant plant. I have been thinking that romantic things don't make you feel trapped so these works will benefit from including distant items.

romantic botanicals #19, Mr. Fantastic and the Strawberry Season,  May 18,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

Romantic Botanicals #18

The Brash Vicar's Daughter

I have this urge to blur most of the canvas with bee trails but I don't. Really there were only 2 bees on this blossom as I paint and I am not a liar.

It is a sloppy mess. My hands are covered in paint. My brushes are sticky. Goodness gracious I am glad I am wearing gloves.

I make dark and light contrasts to show the bright sunny evening. I blotch it out and glop it on. The colours are over bright. This is a brash loud work.

romantic botanicals #18, The Brash Vicar's Daughter,  May 17,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

Romantic Botanicals #17

Dangling Enticements

The bumble bees are huge. I stop painting and just watch them when they come to drink the blossom nectar. Sometimes there are three at once. These are the Crab Apple tree blossoms. They make little red apples that a friend picks and makes into red yummy jelly.

I am continuing the birthday party colours to make a celebration mood. I made the colours vibrant to emulate the sunny day. I like the central branch that leads you down down down then just dangles you there. I like the Bee's dimensional circling path. 

romantic botanicals #17, Dangling Enticements, May 16,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

Romantic Botanicals #16

The Rogue Wore Red

It rains and I keep pulling my gear in the house and then scooting it back out again like a gopher popping in and out of its hole. It is tiring. I had expectations that Sunday I would have a leisurely paint.

Boxy red on red. I am making an image with the depth of the whole bed of tulips. I want to think the world is submerged in the vibrant red of the tulips.

romantic botanicals #16, The Rogue Wore Red , May 15,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

Romantic Botanicals #15

Birthday Party Free Fall

It snows on me three times while I paint.  I keep packing up and hiding indoors and then returning when it abates. This is making me tired and cold. Yet the rest of the time is sunny and blue.

This is an overwhelming piece and I chose the subject matter for that quality. The many layered branches and the hundreds of tiny blossoms have me paining in an out of control manner, always trying to save it from the brink. It is a risky free fall painting. The turquoise, yellow, purple and pink along with the swirly branches and splotchy blossoms give this painting a birthday party feeling.

romantic botanicals #15, Birthday Party Free Fall, May 14,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

I sketch bees on sticky notes before I go out because the bees move so fast often I record them like blobs. I thought these cheat sheets could help.

Romantic Botanicals #14

Icy Lord Plum

Snow snowing all day until it wasn't. I wait it out and paint late in the afternoon when it is 3 degrees. My movements are clumsy as I freeze up. The baby bunny in our yard is finally slow enough to photograph. This is the plum tree with it's small clustered blossoms. The Plums will be delicious, juicy and sweet.

I choose a turquoise for a cool icy feeling.  I layer muddy subtle colour shifts building a complexity of colour. My brush movements are sloppy with cold.

romantic botanicals #14, Icy Lord Plum, May 13,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

Bunny's ears are so small.

Romantic Botanicals #13

Punkella

Cold and windy. I am wearing two layers of fleecy and there are no bees. Blossom petals fly and stick to my canvas as I paint. It was raining all morning and  later, at 3:30, I will be volunteering at my son's school art club.  There is a window of time for me to paint. I look at a clock while I paint. No shilly shally, dilly dalling today. This make for precision painting and strong bush strokes.

The petals are spread wide at the end their life span. This painting has all these gaps between the petals making a choppy sharp edged painting. I layer a grayish purple on top of a dark green to add to the offset punchy feeling.

romantic botanicals #13, Punkella, May 12,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12"

See, I am wearing two layers of fleecy