Proteas with a Jug at Rotary Art Spectacular 2019

Proteas with a Jug - oil and cold wax on panel 40 cm x 40 cm 

I am delighted that this little painting will be part of the Rotary Art Spectacular 2019. The exhibition opens on Monday evening - details below in a screen shot from the website.

I have written about the process of this painting in an earlier post which you can find here. I so enjoyed painting it and am so pleased with the result - I just love the colours. It’s really satisfying when everything just “works”. Although as you will have read in the post there were a few obstacles along the way.

Two more of my paintings are part of the Online Exhibition. There were so many entries this year so I am happy to have a painting selected to hang in the show. Once the online catalogue is on the website I’ll add a link here.

Transition - oil and cold wax on canvas 90 cm x 90 cm 

Digital Painting

Over the last couple of years I have become more and more fascinated wit h digital painting. I still have a lot to learn and try to expand my use of new digital brushes with each new painting. This painting started out as an oil painting on canvas. It had been started some time ago and then left while I went on to paint other images. I hauled it out of storage to re-work it and complete the painting. Photographing work in progress provides a way to assess the quality. I loaded this photograph to Procreate and then I realised that since the entries for the Rotary Exhibition were now open to digital images there was nothing to stop me submitting a digital painting. 

Time and Space - digital painting - suggested size: 60cm x 60 cm. 

Since this is a digital print on archival paper, the size can be altered to suit your requirements. Alternatively the painting can be printed on to a stretched canvas and would then require no framing. 

Getting going after a break

Sometimes life takes turns that you have to take in your stride. At the beginning of December I had to have surgery which, though successful, left me with very low energy levels. 

While recuperating, I spent some time painting in watercolour and working with Procreate on a few digital portraits. 

I had abandoned my easel, canvases and oil paints, preferring to work with mediums more suitable to painting while away from my studio. (I spent the six weeks when I was unable to drive with my daughter and her family - and thoroughly enjoyed being with them over the holidays) 

After spending some time getting the Studio classes running, I decided that it was time to get back to painting. I realised with a shock that the last time I had worked on a canvas was at the end of October when I started a large abstract. 

Such a long break from a painting means that, in the interim, you have really lost your way. I couldn’t feel what I felt more than three months ago. I looked around the studio and discovered two small panels that been given a layer of underpainting. I realised that if I started with a surface that had already been painted this would be less intimidating. 

I had been wanting to paint King Proteas for some time. They remind me of South Africa and I love the strong design coupled with their soft colours. I found an old photograph to use as reference. (I couldn’t bring myself to pay an eye-watering amount for a couple of fresh blooms #sorrynotsorry!)

Here are some photos showing the progress of the painting. This panel had been covered in a very random application of paint applied with both brush and palette knife - and full disclosure here - I used up paint left on the palette from another painting)

Fig. 1.                                                                                   Fig. 2

In Fig.1 the random brushstrokes are visible, particularly on the left hand side and the form of the blooms have been drawn roughly with a brush. I worked directly from my photographic reference. I soon realised that the jug was creating an imbalance in the design.

Fig. 2 shows the addition of a couple of glasses in an attempt to correct this problem. I still did not like the design.

I turned to Procreate where I tried an alternative composition before attempting the changes on the painting. I copied the jug, and moved it to the left of the glass vase. 

Fig.3.                                                                                     Fig. 4 Proteas with a jug  
                                                                                              oil on panel 405 mm x 405 mm

Happier with the changes that I had done in the digital version, I painted out the jug, adding stronger darker value blocks of colour. Where the jug would be, I prepared the area by adding the same pinks and yellows that had been present in the original jug. Once that layer of paint was dry I could add the lines of the jug. 

I had a second panel which had an under painting of bright blues and pinks. Lovely photos of peonies in a bucket that provided the perfect inspiration - they would be perfect with the colours of the under painting. Since I wanted to keep the painting loose, I did no drawing at all, and simply added areas of free brushstrokes. 

Fig. 5                                                                                  Fig. 6 Pink Peonies in a bucket - 
                                                                                           oil on panel 500 mm x 500 mm

One thing I love about painting is that each time you face a new canvas you can reinvent your story - the work can be detailed and defined or it can be very loose and almost abstract. 

You might remember some other peony paintings - this one Damask Peony - oil on canvas 900 mm x 900 mm which features a single huge bloom or this watercolour and ink Peonies. The links will take you to blog posts about these paintings.