Palette Knife Roses
7x5in oil on canvas board 90.
Taking the lessons learned from Qiang Huang, plus the work I did by copying paintings of roses by master painters, I managed to come up with something of my own that I know I could not have done before all the studies.
These roses are the last of the season here in Las Cruces, N.M. and they are in a neighbor's garden against a stone wall. The main rose had started to wilt so instead of cutting it, I took my plein air painting stuff over there and painted the roses in the sunshine. I worked with the palette knife making sure I was following the correct value changes and watching my edges. Although the sun was warm and the shadows were cooler, some shadow areas had the light bounce from the warm areas reflecting into them. A lot to think about, especially when working fast.
I believe it is really important to be familiar with subject matter and is the reason I do a small series of things which interest me. It also makes the process of painting more enjoyable and the painting has a better chance of being successful.
I personally like this painting a lot and am going to try and do another one before the roses completely die. We have cold weather moving in tonight so it will probably finish them off.
