Roses – Kerchoo!

Oil on panel, 14×11″ (larger)

These roses were making me sneeze. I’d set up the still life last Monday and then ran out of time on the painting and left it set up all week. When I finally got back to painting today, the studio smelled like like a perfume factory. That might be a pleasant experience if I wasn’t allergic and didn’t dislike strong scents, especially roses.

My goal for this painting was to be loose, work quickly, trying to get some of the freedom I experience with my line drawing and watercolor wash, while secondarily trying to pay attention to color and light.

Here are the steps along the way: (to see the steps, please click “Continue Reading” below)

First I sketched with a light blue Nupastel and then when I had the drawing about right, went over the pastel with a thin wash of blue paint:

Then I started blocking in the color:

This was as far as I got on Monday before coming back to it today:

I decided to change the color of the cloth in the painting and not have the vase in the corner as it is in this photo of the still life set up. And of course the flowers opened and kept changed during the week.

This painting was a lot of fun. As usual I think I liked the earliest stages best, but was pleased with several aspects of the finished painting nevertheless. I may be tempted to clean up a few areas later, but for now, it’s time to move on to the next.