Another favourite thing about living in the South are the magnolias that bloom in profusion every May - and still a few left in high up shady places - in the middle of our HOT June. I love seeing them lit up in sunlight - all luminous and glowing, casting delicate shadows within the rosy grouping of petals. I feel quite intimidated about painting a white flower... But hope to learn more about the use of soft colours to show the depth, design and richness of this fragrant blossom. Still more challenging are the very dark green shiny leaves...
Monday, June 16, 2008
Magnolia
Another favourite thing about living in the South are the magnolias that bloom in profusion every May - and still a few left in high up shady places - in the middle of our HOT June. I love seeing them lit up in sunlight - all luminous and glowing, casting delicate shadows within the rosy grouping of petals. I feel quite intimidated about painting a white flower... But hope to learn more about the use of soft colours to show the depth, design and richness of this fragrant blossom. Still more challenging are the very dark green shiny leaves...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I think I also prefer this version - although can see it's a little greyed from under-exposure(not muddy)... the colours are nice and soft, while the top one looks a bit brash for the subject. White is a good challenge to paint in w/c - really forces you to look hard and work out what makes those shadows and sunlit bits. I'm contemplating painting some of our farm eggs -they're not white, but soft shades of cream - but not sure if I'm feeling up to all that concentration!
I drew this mostly from memory and the flower part from a photo in about AN HOUR, which is GOOD for me! I need to work more diligently on the leaves too - OBSERVATION exercise! White is indeed a challenge to paint. Plein air would be best, but the humidity, heat and mozzies are a pain! Not that I'm an armchair artist - I'd prefer to stand than sit! I'd also need a ladder or scaffolding to get a good view of the decent mags. Not too many grow on the lower branches. A close-up bird's eye view, looking right into the flower - O'Keeffe style- is desirable. I love the way the yellow-gold stamens fall into the petals, cupped there till a strong wind blows or the petals fall. Just beautiful!
It is a very good drawing of a magnolia, and you've made the leaves look really shiny. Can't you put one or two in a vase to observe and paint from? Guess you'd need a ladder for that too...
There are the pinky-purple (puce?) saucer magnolias blooming all over the place here - in mid-winter!, which worries me no end. Our tree has buds, but I think a cold spell 'nipped' them.
Hi Gillian,
I just wrote on your other comments page with the watercolour of me! You've got the pure lines of the magnolia flower so well here, with its complex, knotty little centre, and dark glossy leaves. Very much a Sugarland image. I think I prefer the moodier tones of the photo to the scan... it is interesting how much it changes things. Would you think of doing a bigger painting with lots of flowers and leaves?
Yes, I'd love to eventually do a big painting of magnolias - plural. The paintings (prints) I see often in homes here - is a solitary mag, or 2 or 3 - on a mahogany table, rather on the kitsch side of things. I fantasize a painting looking into a a magnolia tree (there would have to be a lot of very dark green though which could be difficult) with several mags here and there. Or a big O'Keeffe close up of mag singular... Hope you're feeling better VP. XXXOOO
Post a Comment