About Me

My photo
I am a professional oil painter that focuses on floral still life. Some ask how I chose to become an artist. The answer to that is simple. I didn't choose to become an artist....art chose me

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

My process

Many people wonder how artwork is created. Well, in my opinion it's created with a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. LOL, all kidding aside some paintings seem to just flow off the brush and it's as if you are channeling Monet or Sargent or Schmid. Unfortunately this doesn't happen very often. In the hundreds of paintings I have done, I can count on my one hand how many times this has happened. Most artists agonize over their paintings. More often then not, it's a constant struggle of problem solving. Simple composition or complex one... lot of negative space or just a little....to add grapes or not to add grapes, that is the question.

The roses are blooming and I couldn't resist painting a variety of them in this porcelain vase. I started with the set up and wanted to have a dark background. As you can see I have it set up with a dark background. Roses hold their shape for quite a long time but after getting a rough drawing of where the vase would be, I massed in the roses and begin refining the most important ones.

Set up with roses massed in and a few roses refined


A close up of more roses refined



After about 5 hours of painting, I had most of the roses in with a basic vase and some background. This is where the dilemma got me. I originally wanted dark background but the more I looked at it, I thought maybe a lighter background would be better but it was late and time to put the brushes away for the night.




The next day I worked more on it and continued with my original concept. I'm still debating whether to paint another version with a much lighter background.


"Rose Rhapsody" 16 X 20

There is still a bit of tweaking left to do with this painting but overall I think it works. Would it work with a lighter background? Yes but that's a painting for another day.










15 comments:

  1. Elizabeth I LOVE to read about your process, thanks so much for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, LIz. Enjoyed reading about your process. I often deliberate between light and dark backgrounds. This is a beautiful painting. Thanks for a peek at your painting techniques.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Another great painting! Love the colors and the dark background ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gorgeous painting Elizabeth! Thanks so much for sharing your process--loved being able to enlarge photos as well. Really helps to see your brush work and shifts in values!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh Elizabeth I also tweeted your blog post so others could enjoy it as well. :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. Absolutely beautiful, I love your work.

    Judy, Aus.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love that you share your insight to your approach. Beautiful piece.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Beautiful painting Elizabeth. Thanks for sharing the journey with us.

    3 more sleeps until I meet you at the seminar in Tampa.........I'm excited!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Very nice Elizabeth. I hope you are going to show us a lot more. You have some really great painting going on.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Elizabeth - thank you for putting into words - what I often feel...all in all, it's such a 'labor of love' - even when it is tough. Your rose painting process is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  11. very beautiful painting. i love the confidents in your brush strokes.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love his paintings and his technique, the Brazilians too. visit my blog http://leocostaartes.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  13. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing your approach and thinking process along the way

    ReplyDelete
  14. This is a beautiful painting!

    Kat
    www.katerinademianiuk.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete