Desert Baroque

Baroque
16x20 oil on panel

After focusing on smaller paintings while tinkering with my technique I was eager to take things larger. I'm not sure I'm done with this painting, but I promised myself that I'd set it aside and not touch it for a bit. I like it and want to leave it in a bit rougher a state than I traditionally have. I enjoy the blocks of color, the distinct shapes that become form. I want to resist my urge to refine this to near photographic reality. I believe the feeling has been captured and I want to leave it there.

I started with a drawing of the opulent blossoms on a succulent at our doorstep. I kept all lines straight 

A poor photo taken at my easel, with my own shadow cast across the image. I started the painting with my focal point, the cascading section of the blossoms that caught the light.

My next step was to move to the opposite end of the value scale and establish some of my darkest darks.

Now I begin to work on the all the areas in between - the parts of the luscious blossoms that were in shadow.

More

And more 

When I completed the image I felt that the dark of my background was too deep, so you can see here that I altered that and then spent some time looking at the details of the plant forms and strengthening the shapes created by light and tone.

The finished image is at the top of the post.

Mexican Hibiscus

We have just returned from 2 weeks in Bali, a trip that filled my head with enough images and thoughts to occupy me in the studio for months. Despite the vastly different culture and climate, I was surprised to find a great similarity in the plant life there to that we enjoy in tropical Mexico.

This 8x10 on panel was done about a year ago after a trip to Mexico. The richness of color in the late afternoon sun, and the way these flowers reached above the bush to contrast with the colors of the building behind were too good - I had to paint them!

Ripening Berries

 I saw these while eating lunch and resting from a morning walking through a breathtaking botanical garden. I sipped my iced tea and happily flipped though the photos I had gathered over the course of the morning. Savoring the quiet and happily reflecting on all the paintings I wanted to get to I gazed around me at the plants that were offering their shade to my table. A ray of sun perfectly caught these berries casting their shadows on the shiny leaves below them. I jumped up to capture their image and didn't think of sitting down again until dusk.

 After establishing my tonal sketch in Burnt Sienna I began by laying in the background.

 I moved to observing the leaves and establishing their patterns of warm and cool, light and shadow.

 Finally I focused on the stars of the show, the berries. I loved the variety of color, the sweet little buttons at their base, their luster and the way they hung in differing ways from the branch.

The last step was to bring up the highlights, focus on the smaller details and make sure I had captured their powerful promise of the next generation of plants.