Sunday, May 30, 2010

Moonfire

At last. After 25 hours of painting, she is presentable.
Early one spring morning I was out with the camera. It had rained the night before so everything was drenched and sparkling in the morning sunshine. I was standing inside the canopy of the Moonfire Japanese Maple just to see what could be seen from there. The  foliage  was ablaze with translucent fire and reflected violet. This is the sort of subject that I really enjoy painting...though I'd starve to death if I needed to make a living from it!
11x15" Wallis Professional Sanded Paper, Pastels


The challenge to this piece was it's complexity. I did have to simplify some, and to invent a couple hands of foliage to fill in where I omitted visual chaos. I knew that once all sketched onto the sand paper, it would be hard to keep up with what the lines 'meant' so I outlined with red, violet, or green pastel pencil as I went. This proved to be very helpful. I knew that 'value' was going to be a real challenge for this piece. #1 because the darkest and highest contrast objects were in the foreground and these were 'cool' colors #2 because behind them were flaming reds. It's just the nature of even a dark red to be brighter than any blue or blue green.

Thought it might be interesting to show the reference work. First is the original snapshot. Second is the crop from that original that I used as the inspiration.

8 comments:

  1. Carol, You did an amazing job with this piece. I can't imagine tackling anything so complex. Bravo, it's lovely!

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  2. Thanks for commenting. I'm glad you like it.

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  3. really nice Carol Anne. You did a perfect job of visualizing and rendering this piece.

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  4. Carol, I laughed outloud at your " I'd starve to death if I needed to make a living from it" comment. That rings so true so often, doesn't it? But, you've got to love those colors. I really enjoy seeing what you did with the reference photo. The color choices in your painting are joyful and inviting and I like how you clustered the leaves. Very nice!

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  5. Hi Carol,
    I have only looked at the first image, but this is wonderful. I see what you mean about focusing in on something in nature. I enjoyed your comments about the issue of the cool color being more forward from the warm red. You did a good job. Can't wait to see more. I'll be in contact with you.

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  6. Thanks, Marsha. Looking forward to speaking with you.

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  7. Gorgeous colors against the soft background. This one sings!

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