Saturday 28 March 2015

A Lonely Yellow Daffodil

I have learned from a number of artists (Jean Haines being one) to paint in the seasons and this post embraces just that ....

Our garden is very much a Spring garden with lots of daffodils, tulips, forsythia bushes, azaleas etc and though we have done the trick of visiting the garden centre each month and buying perennials in flower it still remains at it's prettiest in the Spring. However, we never seem to have as many daffs as the previous year and keep having to plant more.....our neighbour says it is because hubby is such a "tidy gardener" he displaces the bulbs as the Summer and Autumn progress, but can hardly give him a slap for that!!

Anyway all this is a roundabout way of telling you  how I came to paint my one daffodil... the winds arrived the other day and flattened one lonely daff which we brought in and popped into water.... it was making the garden untidy so had to be removed!!

Here are some of the sketches, again I am working here to give myself a sort of "template" for painting them, so I used the method of painting (which I have learned from Jean and Joanne Boon Thomas) where I paint some of the flower then lose it (not all) but enough to give a loose feel then working back in to add some of the edges I have lost.  I think I have given myself enough to work on to produce a full piece.... I have painted two face on and one to the side but you really don't need a full bunch of daffs (or any flowers for that matter) to give yourself a composition for a full painting... just use the flower you have and paint it from different angles. I would add some buds as well if I was doing a full painting so would maybe use 3 flowers, a bud, half open and fully open to create a full bunch of daffs. As to composition, might be an idea to draw a quick sketch, could be an "s" shape, a "v" shape, "l" shape, whatever you feel works and I will be having a go in the next few days




I decided the colours were bit boring in the first two so added some purple and turquoise in the last one which I really like and that's the palette I will work with when I do a full piece.


10 comments:

  1. Love these what yellows did you use I struggle with a good clean yellow glad to see you back with a lovely couple to tantalise us with x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Leona, I used cad yellow and Quin gold but the SAA version... I actually really like the colour, it is completely different to the W&N one, richer yellow.

      Delete
  2. I very often use one of a subject for my model but alter its pose for multiples. I like this as the composition then is entirely composed and not painted from a reference photo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Totally agree Lorraine good to create something from nothing, more challenging but more satisfying and certainly with flowers saves picking them all!!

      Delete
  3. Nog even mijn reactie weer geven, SCHITTEREN!com

    ReplyDelete
  4. My grand mother dug up her daffodils every Fall, put the bulbs in a brown paper bag, and then into a plastic bag, and into the freezer for the winter, they need a long cold season to bloom and thrive… seemed to work for her. Love your painting of my favorite flowers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oo not sure I dare suggest doing all that Elaine.... he does like gardening but not sure that much and I just like to look at it!!

      Delete
  5. I discovered the problem with my daffodils not blooming was they were too crowded. What had started out as 2 dozen had multiplied to well over a hundred. Dug up, separated, replanted, fertilized. Now that the snow has melted, I may see what my efforts produce..

    ReplyDelete

Would like to thank you all for taking the time to visit my blog, why not leave me a message then I know you've popped by!! If you have any enquiries please send me an e-mail to

judesfarnworth@hotmail.com