030416 30x60 PART 2 Poppies, Hollyhocks, and Lilies by the Creek

Okay, this blog will start where I left off, starting the second canvas in this diptych.  Please click HERE for PART 1.   

I had already sketched out the scene when I started the first piece so I was able to dive right into the painting.

This canvas will feature a waterfall so I block in the darks of the rocks around the creek and waterfall and the background trees.  I change the creek so it curves back to the right instead of the left.

 

Then I start to block in the greens plus some of the violet that will pick up the color of the flowers.  The greens are mixed with cerulean blue and cadmium yellow light.  Plus some have cadmium red light and medium mixed in.  I premix the greens and then premix an orange.  Then I pull a bit of each color from each premixed pile to get a wide range of greens.  I mix small batches at a time and then mix more as soon as it is used up.

  

I pop in the various shades of greens and violets throughout the painting working the entire canvas at the same time.  I start painting in the poppies, wet into wet, using a circular motion with the palette knives. 

 

I start fleshing out the tumbling waterfall using cerulean blue and a bit of cadmium yellow and titanium white.  Some of the cadmium red on my palette also mixes into the water colors.  Hollyhocks and broad leaves are added. 

I keep working the entire surface adding more poppies, hollyhocks, broad leaves into the wet paint.

White water is added to the waterfall and ripples added to the pool of water.  Goldfish are flecked into the water and ripples pulled over them.  

This is my palette by the time the painting was completed.  My taboret is an old AV cart I bought at IU Surplus for something like $10.  The cart even has an electric cord and outlets if I ever want to plug it in!  But it is the perfect height to paint standing up and has two shelves for painting supplies like brushes, knives, paper towels, etc.

I took this side shot of the painting to show the thick, heavy, impasto paint on the surface.  Photos on the internet simply fail to convey the energy and richness of the thick paint!  

And here is the final, finished shot of the diptych:

 "Poppies, Hollyhocks, and Lilies by the Creek", oil on canvas, diptych, 30" x 60" overall, each canvas 30" x 30", Code #030416 S 30x60, by Charlene Marsh, c. 2016.

Thanks for following along!

Happy Trails!

Charlene

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