And the Winner is....

Well, not really a winner but the painting that was chosen to be the gift for a young girl named Poppy. Here it is!

#1036 - Peachy Poppy #2

As you may remember I had a commission from a friend to paint a picture of poppies. The only instructions where to size - 7 x 10 and the colour - a soft peachy pink - the rest was up to me!

I found that a bit confusing so I decided to paint a number of pieces to give my friend lots of choice. I have shared the first two before but here they are again.

#1014  Peachy Poppy #1

#1020 - Poppies by the Fence

I did one more version of this last piece with fewer poppies - sort of a close-up view.

#1037 - Poppies by the Fence #2

All four paintings were very favourably received and it took my friend and her husband a few days to decide which one they preferred. It is so nice when a customer is satisfied!

By the way - I have three poppy paintings for sale - lol!

Triple Report

Things have been busy since I wrote last. I have done some work on my painting 'Poppies by the Fence', I received another postcard from the LYA swap, and I had a lesson with Jeannie.

A few of my blogging friends made suggestions to improve my 'poppies' painting. I wasn't able to implement all of them on this piece but will be doing a second version where I can make more adjustments. Meanwhile, here are photos of the original and the improved painting.

original

improved?

 It is amazing how differently the paintings and the photos of them look. When I compare the second photo with its painting I wonder if I need to darken the shadows even more than I have done already. I am going to put this away for a while and let it gel.

Now for the treasure in the mail! Today's LYA postcard was from Jane Martin of Roanoke, Virginia. It is a charming sketch of a gardener's bench and fits in perfectly with my bedding plants.

Jane Martin's postcard

Jane included a super quote from Picasso on the back of the card:
               
             "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."

You can see more of Jane's art at Mary Jane's Studio

And behind door number three... I finally remembered to take a photo of my student's painting!!!

Jeannie's painting

This was based on one of Jeannie's photos from their trip to Hawaii. The colours are a bit more vibrant in the original. We have done very few landscapes together and nothing with such a dramatic sky so this just thrilled me when I saw it at Art Club where she continued to work on the painting. I hope her husband is pleased with it too as it was his suggestion of a subject for this week's class.

#1021 - Storm over the Island - 7 x 10 watercolour

And this is my painting of the same scene. I demonstrate each step of the painting, often going over the same area more than once to help my students understand the process better and to demonstrate that watercolour is more flexible than many think.


It has been a good week!

Commission and Sketches

Earlier this year a friend commissioned me to do a painting of poppies as a gift for her niece. The only instructions I received were about the size  - 7 x 10, and the colour - she wanted a salmon pink for the flowers. So I have been playing around with ideas for composition and searching the internet for good references for the flowers. I have done two pieces and am not sure that I like either of them.

#1014 - Peachy Poppy -  - 7 x 10 watercolour

#1020 - Poppies by the Fence - 7 x 10 watercolour

I have one more drawing ready to paint but I don't feel that I have found the right reference photo yet. Fortunately, I have a lot of time to play with this as the commission isn't due until the end of summer.

Meanwhile, I have continued my promise to myself to do more sketching.

a few sketches from TV and my reference file

Some of the items on top of one of my cupboards

a vase decorated with some metal leaves

It is obvious that I need to work on cylindrical objects but I am reasonably pleased with my progress - getting better every day!

I hope you will let me know what you think of the poppy paintings as any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!