I must be Mad!!

I got a phone call over the weekend to ask would I stand in for someone at a local art group to do a demonstration and though I could choose my subject, the person I am replacing was doing florals. I am visiting this particular group for a workshop during the Summer and in November for a demonstration so I obviously don't want to do the same thing for any of the sessions.

So I wondered should I try a floral demo?  I have never done one before so would be stepping out of my comfort zone. I am used to doing workshops where I can usually get a full painting done in around 2 hours with the group usually completing during the time too so a demonstration needs a painting to take quite a bit longer. Usually in demos I concentrate quite a lot on how I paint and do some studies to illustrate the techniques and skills but as I have demonstrated at this group before I need to do something different.

I am finding that especially for florals I am much better at creating my own composition using one particular type of flower and since I saw the Jean Haines blog on how to paint roses I have enjoyed playing with them ever since...lots of my early practices were really not too good but I have now got more of a feel for them and have done quite a few rose paintings since.

It was my birthday on Sunday (a rather big one!!) and we had some friends and family to the house and my niece brought me a lovely bunch of flowers which contained some pinky/purply roses so I picked just one and as I have done previously, used it in different positions to provide me with a simple reference.

As for doing this at a workshop, well I think I may be a bit mad as working like this can be very haphazard and what you may have managed once, may not happen as easily a second time, but I do enjoy creating like this and certainly painting with Brusho has really helped me move on in this respect. You are thinking on your feet and you never know just what will happen....you need to be constantly assessing how things are progressing, constantly stepping back and reappraising so I think I will stand up for this one as it will make it easier for me to see... might even ask the audience if I get stuck!!!

So. apart from never having done a floral I am really stepping outside my comfort zone with the way I will be working... not sure if it's luck I need or medication!! Might need a stiff one when I get home!!