Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Iris Field, 7" x 5"

The last mini of the series. The whole garden is surrounded by tall trees, so I look some liberties with the reference and I decided to break the wall of green a bit.

I'm hoping to go there again this coming year, but this time to paint on location if the owners do not mind.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Garden Bed, 7" x 5"

This is the third of the Flower Farm small paintings series.

While working in such small format I had to keep reminding myself that the important thing was to convey the "idea" of flower beds. Although this might give the impression that doing so is liberating, it actually required a lot of effort on my part not to give too much detail to the irises in the foreground.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Daylilies, 7" x 5"


This is the second painting of the Flower Farm series, done also on Ampersand pastelbord.

A while ago I started a small painting from the same reference, but never finished it. Now I know why: I was trying to be too true to the photo and didn't know how to handle the mass of greens. With this one though, I just took a few ideas from the reference and asked myself what kind of day and atmospheric conditions I wanted to represent.

I hope the idea of a hazy summer day, with chirping insects comes through.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

When the Lilacs Fade 7" x 5" Sold


This is the first of a series of small paintings I started for the Plowshares fair this past weekend. As it happened, it got sold before the show took place.

It is based on one of the many photos I have taken at the Phoenix Flower Farm, my favorite place for buying irises. The place is beautifully landscaped, with ponds here and there, and the sound of birds and running water always bring a sense of peacefulness to me.