New paintings, hot off the easel, and some thoughts on art and life ...
On the Easel - from Inspiration to Painting
To a non-artist it might seem mystifying how a painting gets done. For me, it starts with a visual inspiration, usually from my own garden. The painting I'm working on now is an example. I took a walk in my garden and picked some things that looked interesting, then set them up in my studio. I took a reference photo to have in case I'm not finished before they wilt - that photo is shown below.
The star of the show here is the white peony called 'Godaishu.' If you're interested in gardening you should check out my garden blog post about it here. The other flowers are the rambling rose 'Veilchenblau,' orange ranunculus, the rose 'Cornelia' (on the right, hanging upside-down), and brilliant blue Anagallis.
As the painting progresses, it gets farther away from the real flowers set up in front of me. Imagination takes over and I experiment with background colors, placement of light and dark values. I'd like to tell you that I make a detailed thumbnail sketch before I start painting, that I get all my shapes and values placed well before I pick up a brush, but I'd be lying. I should do that, but usually I get a half-baked notion in my head and start from that. All you artists out there, how do you start a painting?
