Datura, Another Point of View

The datura is an interesting flower to grow. It blooms in the evening or sometimes early morning and wilts as the sun rises in the sky. The dew on it in the morning reminds me of Man Ray's Tears. And the flower is so delicate that the light shines through like through silk.

Dature, Another Point of View

Been taking a lot of pictures of the garden and some cut flowers set against black. Hurricane Irene is going to destroy the flowers.
Today I worked a bit on the whites of the bloom.

Datura, Summer 2011

I added the botanical name because I consider the painting in the vein of botanical illustration. The first try I thought the font was too large and disrupted the balance of the whole. The smaller font is what I settled on.

Dature, Another Point of View

Today the wind has blown a steady 20 mph, but the air is crisp and the sky clear. It is one of those days that the sailors love on Buzzards Bay when you can set the spinnaker and race. We are on alert for a category 2 hurricane, Irene, to hit Saturday or Sunday. That will be the end of the garden.

Datura, Summer 2011

Prussian blue I do

Datura, Summer 2011

The last 3 days I've been in Ogunquit, ME and Rockport, Salem, MA. The NYC library's Hudson River School paintings were on view at the Peabody Essex. These were early paintings by those artists interested in capturing the American landscape. They are not as strong as the later pieces by the group. What I found more interesting was a show of Man Ray and Lee Miller works created when they were a team. His work appealed to me more, but I think that may have been because she was the subject.
We attended a concert in Rockport at the new Shalin Liu Performance Center. It is a small but visually powerful venue which sits directly on the coast. The back stage wall is glass and the interior reflects the shapes and colors of the rocks and water. Just beautiful.
The Datura
Undulating edges
Gray
Leaves traps shadows

Datura, Summer 2011

The white emerges
Contrast grows to please the eye
Settle on green ground

Datura, Summer 2011

Datura, the most beautiful flower and the most perfectly white flower I grow.

August Flowers, 2011

Completed.

August Flowers, 2011

Got to work late today and only spent a couple of hours in the studio. Finished off the right side of the gerbera and added some water drops to all 3 flowers. Tomorrow will clean up the details and finish.

August Flowers, 2011

Another beautiful summer day. The osprey are over head teaching the chick to soar on the thermals. the gold finch have found the sunflowers the chipmunks planted and the tomatoes are coming.
I worked back into the gerbera (left side only) and added some details such as water drops to the zinnia.

August Flowers, 2011

I removed the smaller gerbera flowers in the middle frame because I felt they distracted from the whole rather than unifying the panels. I also went back into the red zennia. Tomorrow I will refine the yellow gerbera.

August Flowers, 2011

As I was thinking of ways to unify this composition, I came upon the idea of painting one flower through 3 stages of its life. Next project. Meanwhile, I worked more on the dahlia and carried some elements across the boards.

August Flowers, 2011

The reader might not notice a change from yesterday's post. Look carefully at the left side of the dahlia for subtle color adjustments and brush work.

August Flowers, 2011

I added my favorite dahlia to the triptych. More work tomorrow will reveal the true color. It is a syrupy caramel.

August Flowers, 2011

I'm working simultaneously on some small flower paintings from our garden. This triptych study of yellow flowers is a small, 11 x 5.5", oil on board. The divisions are routed. I am thinking of participating in a daily painters site. These (and single flowers) would be what I present.

Highbush Blueberry, Spring

Reworked the middle ground to a darker color and more vague forms. Still may reduce some more of the sky.

Highbush Blueberry, Spring

Today I put in the basic placement of the branches and made some indications of the leaf placement, which should help me decide how to handle the far ground. I tried some green along the top and now think I should add more toward the horizon line. The color needs to be in high contrast with the blueberry bush, though.