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.

Brilliant Disks

Brilliant Disks
18x24 oil on panel

A couple of years ago I painted a small version of this image that I really liked. As my brother took it home, he told me that he really looked forward to seeing me do it in a larger scale. When I was looking for a few images to paint in a large format recently, his words came floating back to me.

 I'm really glad for his advice, this painting leapt off my brush like it had been just itching to be big all along! 

The burnt sienna value drawing/underpainting

The very start of laying in color over the value drawing.  

The first layer of all color completed. Now I let it dry fully before beginning to make all the refinements and adjustments it calls for. 

Several days into the process of defining the way sunlight and shadow weave the gorgeous leaves of this plant together into a dramatic composition.

The final, completed image is at the top of the post.

Cactus Shadows IV

Cactus Shadows IV
12x16 oil on panel
The fourth in a series, this painting examines the other worldly color combinations and shapes that cactus offer up.  Caught in the early morning desert sun, the arresting shapes of the cactus were accentuated by the shadows they cast on the broad, extraordinarily colored surfaces of neighboring leaves. 

The first step is the under painting where I work out placement and values

Laying in the first color. I look to capture the basic color of broad shapes, while adhering to the values I  established in my underpainting.

Now I slow down and begin to look for more subtle color and value changes. I build depth of color with glazes, dry brush and constant looking to see more and more detail. I continue to check for accuracy while trying to ultimately express what I found compelling about this specific sight.

The finished painting is at the top of the post.

Agave Americana

Agave Americana
20x24 oil on panel

I painted this large because this variety of Agave is massive. I was dwarfed by an enormous stand of its tangled arms in the Huntington Garden in Pasadena California. Focusing on the base of a single plant gave structure to the web of leaves, reaching and bending around and through one another. I read a description of this variety of Agave as looking like a plant that is growing underwater, flowing with the currents. I certainly felt a bit drifty while painting this.

                                      

                                         The tonal drawing, in Burnt Sienna

                                       

                                             I decided to start by laying in the darkest areas

Sticking to the median color and value of each shape,
I developed the underpainting

Then I spent days finding the variations within each shape,
and the rhythms of the whole

Seeds and Spines

I found this scene in the other worldly cactus garden at Lotusland in Montecito, California. The amazing gardens Madame Ganna Walska spent her later years designing are now open to the public. No matter how far you have to travel to get there, I promise the trip is well worth the effort!

I love seeing the stages the fruit goes through, from small nub to breaking open and offering it's seeds. The sculptural quality of cactus is so satisfying - catching light and casting shadow, creating stripes of bright, warm colors and deep cool shadows. Oh, and the mixed message of the lush, shapely fruit and the bristling defense of all those spines delights me.

Push

I encountered this towering succulent on a hike in the high California desert. Looking up into it's muscular arms, with the brilliant desert sky behind I experienced a sensation of smallness than modern, plugged-in types, and women who reached nearly 6 feet in their early teens rarely feel. It was delightful.

I painted this big, like it felt - 20x24.

Ruffels

This is one of the small, 8X10 oil paintings that kicked off my series of succulents. Their wonderfully sculptural quality satisfy my love of abstraction while allowing me to follow my urge to record accurately. This plant is a party in a pot! It's ruffled edges pull in and push out from the center of the plant, catching light and casting shadow all day long. Sharp color contrasts and subtle transitions (missing to some degree in the photo of this painting) make it a feast for the eye. My only job was to record it!