Sometimes we ignore one hobby for another. Photography is one of those. My focus of late is on other adventures, but looking through old photos – digital or analog – is something always worthwhile. All looks different from the distance of time. Here, some daffodils taken last spring with my Nikon Z6ii and 50mm lens, and modified to match this morning’s mood, which is rather grey and gloomy and monochrome with a bit of color.
With a break in the cold and rain, a relapse of my cold, and sheer need to get out into the afternoon sunshine (74F! – 23.3 C!), I sat down and listened to Lord Peter Wimsey on Audible, pulled out a pan of paints, and looked around me. There are a lot of daffodils in various pots, a bunch of daisies, and a basil plant I just bought. The rains have kept me from replacing and modifying my drip system, but as today we probably had the last of the seasonal rain, it is time to reset them as as well as clean up various beds.
This potted basil was the first bit of painting. I wanted to focus on the lights and darks, the shadows and bright spots. It is quite a complicated bit of greenery to paint – enough detail to get depth and separation of leaves, as well as a sense of the direction of light. Pencil first, and then a try at a bit more than a lick and a promise. Not great, but I did accomplish a bit of what I wanted.
Once the basil was done, the paper was flipped over. I have a huge pot where some spring daisies are just jumping up with an enthusiasm that always frustrates my own when I try to paint them! I tried to paint them as masses – but the white daisies are very clear in shape, white with bright yellow centers – and all this in a field of varying green. The sun was in and out behind the clouds, so the two patches look a bit different. Again, complexity being simplified. The one on the right is my favorite as it feels somehow “cleaner” if that makes any sense.
And then, the daffodils. The one on the left is better than the one on the right; the spiky leaves are okay. What I focused on here were colors and their shapes, not a daffodil. The same with daisies on the right. This meant I did not use pencil, but painted directly.
Altogether, a few hours in the afternoon spent playing and relaxing. Some success, some failure.
Watercolor, 9×12 Arches CP 140# paper.
Every Monday afternoon I meet up with a class in oil painting. I paint oils at home, too, and they take far longer to dry than ink or watercolor. Hmmm. I really do miss those two quite a bit, so today, before class, I decided to do two quick sketches and use a bit of watercolor.
The first was daffodils – obviously! I have several in pots, some blooming and fading already, and others sending up leaves and stems and buds. Spring flowers for sure. I have some freesias which are just beginning to bloom, so perhaps some of those later on.
And then some saguaros from the Sonoran Desert. Sunset is always fabulous in Arizona, and here we are overlooking the metroplex that is Tucson / Phoenix in the distance. I am still amazed by these wonderful cacti – so tall and elegant, and silhouetted against the sky they are even more amazing.
Okay – time to pack it up and head out to class!
More work on negative painting and flowers. I wanted simple but interesting flowers to paint. Daffodils are perfect for this – beautiful flowers, usually one color, and have a relative simple shape – petals and a tube in the middle.
To begin, I obviously did a sketch, and obviously also depend on the sketch to let the viewer know these are (supposedly) daffodils. I painted the blue around the drawing first – working the dark in against all traditional watercolor rules. Then, the vase. Then a loose blobbing of yellow, darker yellow, some greyed yellow for shadows, and a touch of orange for the centers of the flowers. The leaves happened somewhere, and final daubs of darkestness to accent things.
Not a great painting but it was a good practice piece. Still more practice is needed. Negative painting is getting easier. Color blobs are getting easier, too, to show lighter and darker areas, as practiced in yesterdays press-release brush play. Once more, I am not after a botanical painting with detail, but an ability to have a loose, expressive style that shows things in a painterly manner for what they really are.
One day, one day . . .
I just got back my first roll of E6-processed Kodak Ektachrome 100. Oh, yum! This is a lovely film. I will let the images speak for themselves. Nikon N90S and Nikon 28-85 f2.8 Macro. Old stuff with a new film – go figure!
Ink, Yarn & Beer 