Images of the Palouse or vast fields of crops, such as rape seed, extending to the horizon, provide an abstract element of design. Here, the colors and lines become the focal point, rather than the items themselves.
As I mentioned yesterday, simplification is something I want to work on. Here, simplicity and abstraction go a bit further than I want, so maybe I’ll find a happy medium in between the two!
Yesterday’s tulips were accompanied by red and yellow flowers, some negative painting, and color combining. I used reds and yellows (which ones, I forget) and some Pyrrol Orange to make the flowers. Thinking of black-eyed Susans, I used black for the flowers’ centers on the daisy-like ones. What are the red ones? Good question!
What I did here was try to work from large masses of color to details, top to bottom, and having things dry to a certain point before adding more color unless I wanted them to bleed. White space, too, was thought about. Near and far, even with a rather shallow depth of field, was pondered, and the idea was to use cold colors – such a cold yellow or green – to make something recede – and warm colors to bring things forward. Light and dark were also used in an attempt to achieve this effect.
Having photography as a hobby sometimes yields pictures that can be used to create more pictures. I decided to give up the no-lines approach for now (though it is a great exercise to learn how to make shapes – I was just really frustrated by what I was doing), do some pencil roughing, and then work one color area at a time. First the tulips in shades of red, orange, and yellow, mixing some oranges as I went. Next, the greens of leaves and stems, consciously determining the areas to negative paint later on, as for the flower petals. Finally, the bowl. Before the whole was done, I went back to each area and tried to create a sense of depth by deepening other areas and being careful not to touch the areas I had left deliberately white.
This morning I wanted to work on the tree ferns, but for now, the jury is out on what to do. I ordered some watercolor marker / brushes from Amazon, as I don’t have any and the design element seems to warrant more control than a brush. So, I decided to use this photo I took over the weekend of a Toyon – also called Christmas Berry as it shows up Decemberish – for a quick morning paint. Below are the results using my palette with 5 greens (yay! green!) and a 1/2 inch flat brush. I painted directly, no lines.
