033116 12x12 Dancing Flowers

I started this 12" x 12" painting by covering the surface with  paint that gradated from a blue violet through a red violet to gold.

Then I added flowers dancing across the surface.

And the finished painting, "Dancing Flowers", 12" x 12", oil on panel, by Charlene Marsh.

 

Hollyhocks, Echinacea, Lilies, Daisies, and Queen Anne's Lace Code #121515 S 12x12

Let's end the year with a lovely flower painting! 

I first make a panel by cutting the hardboard into the size I want then sealing the panel with GAC 100.  I apply two coats of gesso to the front and back sides of the panel.  Then I tint the panel with a napthol crimson red acrylic paint.   Using alizarin crimson and cerulean oil paints thinned with cold pressed linseed oil, I sketch the initial drawing on the panel staying very loose with the drawing.  This preliminary sketch is used to place where I want the flowers and pool and birdbath to go and the basic structure of the painting.

I start with the darkest darks of the background trees and the foreground space.  I also pop in the pure reds and pinks of the flowers.

I have a rubber tipped implement -- looks kinda like an eraser tip -- to loosely add branches and tendrils.  I also put in the birdbath.  I work back and forth between the foreground and background as well as all over the entire surface at the same time.

Flowers are added and then pushed back or painted over and even painted out, in an ongoing "back and forth" play throughout the entire surface.

The finished painting, "Hollyhocks, Echinacea, Lilies, Daisies, and Queen Anne's Lace" next to a gold fish pool.  Oil on panel, 12" x 12", c. 2015. Code #121515 S 12x1.  SOLD.

I want to wish you a Happy New Year and many blessings in 2016!  I appreciate you very much!  You are the reason I continue to paint and create beautiful artwork to enrich our living spaces and lives!  Thank you for your interest and support over the years!  I plan to make 2016 the best year ever with more fabulous paintings!

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Cheers,

Charlene

Magic Lilies and Hollyhocks 112415 S 12x12

As the days grow shorter and  grayer and the nights grow longer and colder,  I thought it would be nice to paint a cheery, summer, flower scene to remind us of warmer, lighter days that will return.

I start with a sketch made with a brush dipped in a mix of magenta and cerulean blue.  Then I start by mixing some deep, rich greens, blocking in the darkest darks using a palette knife to both mix the colors and apply the paint.

Then I block in the colors and values over the entire panel.  I block in a goldfish pool in the lower right area and lay out where hollyhocks rise in the back.  Magic lilies appear in the pumpkin patch.
 

 
Once I have the basic blocks of shapes and colors I go into the details and fine tuning.  Queen Anne's Lace and marigolds dance across the surface and details added to the overflowing flowers.  I pull out any shapes that need to sit in front of other background shapes.  Here is the finished painting, "Magic Lilies and Hollyhocks", oil on panel, 12" x 12", 112415 S 12x12:  
 

Thanks for checking in and following my artistic journey!

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Happy Trails! 

Charlene

Flowers Galore!

This painting is done in the studio.  I started with several sketches to figure out how I wanted to set it up.  Plein air paintings I have done over the years were used for inspiration.  Here's one page from my sketchbook.

I sketched out the painting on the panel with a brush dipped in linseed oil and a magenta cerulean blue mix and started blocking in the colors.

 I start with the darks first and then block in the bright flowers.

  Continuing to lay in the values and colors.

I work over the entire surface of the panel at the same time. 

 I block in the sky last.  Lightening a dark is much easier than trying to make a light value (with white) dark.  In fact, it is impossible!  Now the fun really begins! 

I go back into the painting adding the details of the flowers and leaves and flowing water.  Again, I work over the entire surface at the same time.  Since I work wet into wet, I have to work as fast as possible and stay with it over several days until it is done. 

 Finished painting.  "Flowers Galore", 24" x 36", oil on panel.  #110615 24x36

Thanks for tuning in!  Happy trails!