Two 4" x 5" Flower Paintings

     These small studies have served to give me a try at painting flowers. I started the 4" x 5" acrylic painting of fuchsia colored hibiscus flowers months ago, and recently pulled it out to finish. Thinking a pair of studies might be nice, I chose white astilbe for the second small piece, both for the way white contrasts with fuchsia and for the difference in shape. It has been a long time since I have attempted flower paintings; you can see a purple iris here and magnolia blossoms here.  Each of those sold somewhere along the way.

     Clearly, landscapes come more easily to me, but the learning involved in these studies was worth it. Flowers come out better, I think, when they are not over-worked--with just a few brush strokes in just the right colors. Highlights add depth, but multiple layers of acrylic paint do not necessarily add anything, rather seemed to detract. I'm sure there are countless gorgeous flower paintings by accomplished floral artists that would prove me wrong. So maybe what I should say is that in a small piece, what would work better at least for me would be surer quicker strokes than I used on the hibiscus. They say live and learn, but I often need to try something new, make various mistakes, and learn. Since no one is grading the efforts, it's fun and refreshing.

     The individual flowers that make up the astilbe plumes are too tiny to overwork, so that piece pleases me more. There is some layering, beginning with a slightly bluish white, finishing with slightly yellowed white (for the warmth)  toward the tops of the plumes and some pure white highlights. I used a fan brush, pressed into the paint so that the bristles were nicely separated and dabbed away in a "plumey" pattern. For each piece, I had looked at photos in my husband's gardening and botanical reference books. We had a hibiscus in the back yard at the time I started that painting, so could use my own photos as well (the hibiscus was not blooming at the time, but I had studied them up close often enough to draw on memory too).

Question of the day: What new thing have you tried lately and what did you learn doing it?