Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Cosmos, For the last time!

For this painting at least! I have had four classes for Painting White Flowers and I am not sure if my piece is doen yet. It may jsut have to "BE' for awhile. I may actually decide to crop off the whole right side. Ariel says no ,but I am really not happy with that part of the painting.
First I must share a picture of my teacher, Ariel Freeman, discussing the painting that she was working on during our sessions. Her reference picture was of pale pink mums but they had a lot fo whitein them and the whole point of the lessons was to learn how to work with white light colors. Her painting is absolutely stunning and she has it posted in all of it's stages on her blog , here. We have our classes in her studio space at Liberty Town.
Now for my painting. Here it is after 4 lessons and several extra hours of work. Serious watercolor painting takes quite a bit of time as you have to wait before painting certain parts till contiguous areas are completely dry. This requires patience and waiting and when one has up a head of steam to paint, one wants to paint , not wait! For this reason I have actually started on a second piece- we will see if that one goes anywhere.



I will show you the parts that I am the most pleased with! I am really pleased with the center of the main focal blossom.


The second area that I am pleased with is the lower blossom that is behind the focal blossom.


IF I do crop this piece down, I would probably do it this way.

This is definately the strongest part of the painting and I am not happy with the blossom down to the right that is so far in the background. This piece has taught me a big lesson: just because something is a certain way in your reference photo, one does not have to include it in the finished piece. To start I thought that the fuzzy blossom balanced the composition, now, not so much. Oh well, paint and learn!!!

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW It's a really beautiful painting...well done!!

ariel freeman said...

I do think your painting works (even without the cropping). Remember how you felt about your day lilly painting. Sometimes you do need to take a step back and revisit it a time later.

Wildflowerhouse said...

One very talented lady,you are. Ithink I am repeating myself.It is gorgeous. Sharon

jewelrygirl said...

I think the painting is stunning. I love the focal flower and the one right next to it that sits lower.

Camilla La Mer-Soul Art Dolls said...

I am actually particularly drawn to the "emerging" flower down below on the right side of your painting. Then again, I am an intuitive artist, I live for process...I encourage you not to judge so harshly the parts that you feel are not perfect enough...sometimes those are the parts with the most to offer our deeper selves...They can sometimes be pockets of energy that are authentically alive...Thank you for sharing your beautiful work!

Camilla

Michala Gyetvai (Kayla coo) said...

Hi Elizabeth,
I have only just found your comment and I wanted to say thank you so much.
Your painting of cosmos is beautiful.
lovely to meet you too.

Shabby Cottage Studio said...

Hi Elizabeth, thanks for visiting my blog and it's nice to meet you too. Your painting is lovely. I used to teach acrylic painting and your teacher is right that sometimes you have to walk away from a piece and come back to it later with fresher eyes. We are always our own worst critic. ;-)
Tee crackle I used on my collage was a crackle tecture medium made by Deco Art. Hope that helps.

If you like Joannas style you definitely should come take a class...it's been a blast!
Cheers
Gail

*jean* said...

ooo your painting is lovely!! i think your crop looks good!

Anonymous said...

I really like this Elizabeth you are learning a lot from Ariel. Make me want Spring even sooner :>)

I was TAGGED by Terri and now I am tagging you...Won't you play along? Here are the rules:
•Go to your photo folder on your computer
•Go to the 6th folder of photos
•Go to the sixth picture
•Put the picture on your blog and a description of it
•Invite six friends to join the challenge
•Link them in your blog

artisbliss said...

I was going to say don't crop because I rather like the sort of fuzzy, soft focus effect of the right side of the painting, but I like what would be the cropped version, too. I guess I will just say don't do anything hasty!! Good to catch up on your blog and see your lovely work.

Mo said...

The adjective I wanted to use has already been put out, but who cares.... it's absolutely STUNNING! And if you do crop - save the cropped image and do something different with it - it's lovely as well! I'm still working on your goody boxes - they'll arrive someday! Thanks for keeping me inspired. Love ya. ~ Mo
p.s. by the way - what did you end up naming the dragon?????

Barbara said...

BEEEEEEE===U====TEE====FUL!!!!

Judy said...

I don't know much about art, but I do know what appeals to me, and I love your new watercolor! I wouldn't do a thing with it, but admire it and be proud of it!

Fabulous!

xo

gunnelsvensson said...

lovely painting! I wish I could do that :-)

Mary Z said...

Elizabeth - simply spectacular - you are a one man show - remember that!
hugs!
Mary Z

Gaby Bee said...

A really fabulous painting! It has a lovely freshness and a sense of the liveliness of nature.
Gaby xo

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