Painting Sunflowers, Daisies and Marigolds from my 2018 Garden

I tried a number of different backgrounds for this painting and ended up leaving it green because it will be removed by computer when I use this design on fabrics and other products.

Instead I focused my energy on getting the flowers the way that I wanted them. Here you see me changing a wildflower to a marigold to better balance my design.

At this point it's just a matter of deciding which end I want up in the final design.

I prefer it this way but on some items it really won't matter what direction it is. That's one of the really fun and surprising things about florals.

Capturing the power of the garden in a painting, unveiling the completed painting

 Those of you that have read the blog for some time will not be surprised that I'm as passionate about my garden as I am about painting. It all comes together nicely here, don't you think so?

Sunflowers painting gets daisies and Iris too

Impressionism, expressionism and whatever this is

These photos were taken in different light, (night and day)

Not sure where this is headed today, just using up some of the last bits of the tube acrylics and playing with it a bit.

I stood it on it's head a while to try to get some fresh perspective and then just abandoned that and dived into the paint again reveling in it's ability to take me to another place and keep my mind off my problems for a while.

 I can't recommend it enough. Remember you're not trying to do anything or please anyone, you just want to relax and slip away from the real world for a while. You'll be surprised at how refreshing this little recess can be. You return to your day relaxed, refreshed and ready to go.

Cool blues, Cardinals return and life goes on

Bits of blue swirl around the painting and even dance into the center of the flowers. It's a cool blue, like the sky outside today as the cold snap begins to lift and the cardinals return to the garden.

 I also stained a small shaker box made by a friend in a local woodworking group. It's amazing the level of craftsmanship all around us if we look for it. There seems to be a special warmth and life to objects carefully made by hand, don't you think so?

I wasn't happy with the finish I'd applied to the box so I went back to this and reveled in the fact that flinging paint is SOOO therapeutic and always makes me feel better. Give it a try, I think you'll like it.

Remembering the garden, it's not about the sunflowers anymore

Somewhere along the way the focus on this painting changed from remembering the garden and trying to capture the sunflowers.

Now it's just about the paints, the tools and the brushstrokes and whether I want to carry on with it.

It's beginning to remind me of a lot of things and pull me in a lot of directions but I still can't tell where it's going, I'm just along for the ride.

Taking a closer look at a sunflower painting

It's interesting to look at your old paintings is a new way. I shot some new photos with different lighting to see if that would give me any new ideas.

I cropped it in a few new ways to and will see what can be done with the new images.

Picture Framing

I went to a local art and craft store to pick up a frame for that small sunflower painting. It's a 9 x 12'' and neither Wal-Mart or target had anything that would fit so I headed to Michaels and they only had Three choices in the ready made. I had a 40% off coupon and wound up paying fourteen dollars for the least objectionable of the choices.

If I buy canvas panels these days I always buy eight by ten inch ones because you can pick up frames at WalMart for as little as two or three dollars.

I was SHOCKED that the framer had NO idea that you DO NOT put glass over an acrylic painting. He's talking about having something to protect it and NOT getting the fact that I've been doing this for 45 years and STILL have a couple of my paintings from back then that have been through hell and back, stored in all kinds of conditions and still look great. I keep telling people that acrylic paintings are a lot tougher than they think, it's just too bad that no one listens.

Painting again

I gathered a few paintings that were in progress and tried to decide which one to start with.

 As you can see here I kind of lost my way with the background and was unable to decide what colors or textures that I wanted it to have.

 I started by shortening the base of the vase and roughing in a table for it to sit on.

 I then worked white and 3 different blues into the background with pallete knives, my hands and several sized of paint brushes. My reason for doing this is to make it go with a larger sunflower painting that I'm very fond of and perhaps use them as a set.

Once I get a nice frame for it I'll take a picture of it on the wall with the other one so that you can see how nice they look together.

Sunflower painting

A fresh approach to the Sunflower painting

Sometimes it's easy to over think things. My plan today is just to relax and fall into it. I'm not even going to pick colors. I'm  just going to shake up the paint box and reach in like a prize drawing,  grabbing ten tubes at random and using whatever colors I end up with.

If nothing else I think it will be fun and interesting. Music would be nice too, I still find myself listening to Donovan and The Moody Blues all these decades later because of the way Donovan often mentioned paint colors in the song lyrics. It often helps me when I get stuck and can't decide what I want to reach for next. I'm not sure what it is about the Moody Blues but I've done some of my best work while listening to them.

A dark place

This may look black but it's actually dark blue, alizarin crimson, hookers green and orange in various amounts and mixes. I tried a bit of white with some of them but it just got "muddy". It looks like I'd better put this painting away until I'm in a better mood for it or a new idea hits. That happens sometimes.

Flow

This is the point in a painting that I really enjoy. With the flowers and vase finished I pull out the palette knives and just start moving the paint around, it's relaxing and you don't have to think about anything too much. It's usually the point where things begin to flow.

The progress so far

Those of you who know me will laugh when you see this because my intentions to try other designs on the vase went out the window when I had a nice stir-fry for lunch. Yes, I'm easily distracted.

I'm still working on the background and wondering if it's going too blue. I had wanted to include a shimmering effect of all colors but blue is always the first thing I reach for.

I'll rest up a bit and see what happens next if the light holds up. Winter days get pretty short up here.

Quitting for the night on the Sunflower Painting