Hydrangea Wreath Completed.....

My Hydrangea Wreath painting is now complete......every last detail finished.

I'm showing the overall finished work in the next series of photos but I haven't forgotten about the work itself in progress that I was showing and we'll pick up with that later on in the post.

I know, you're wondering where in the world this second bird in the upper left hand corner came from. That little chickadee wasn't in the finished sketch, so how did he get there?? Ow the questions.....

The wonderful thing about doing a painting on gallery canvas is that it needs no frame, as you can see here, the mottled green background is brought around to all 4 sides. The painting is 14" x 18" and the canvas is 1 1/2" deep.

This is where we left off in my last post....the topmost bloom had been painted.

I then started working on the two purple blooms at the bottom of the wreath. Here I've just barely started on them.

Now we can see them fully finished!

The next thing on my list was the 2nd blue Hydrangea bloom. Once that was completed, I could move onto the bird or should I say "birds" as it turned out.

Here I've completed the bird that I had originally sketched onto the canvas. This is where the second bird comes in though.....after the first chickadee was painted, I felt he was lonely and needed some company. Something just seemed as if it were missing to me. At this point I knew I wanted another chickadee in the painting but the question was where to put him. I decided he would look quite cute hiding behind the topmost Hydrangea blossom, peeking down at his friend.

Once that little guy was painted in, I felt quite happy. I also at this point added some color around the blue oval...the dark blue that is in my Hydrangea blooms, this gives the center of the wreath added dimention. I also, if you will notice, added little tendrils all around my grape vine wreath. I believe a part of any good painting is listening to what the piece tells you. This means even the best made plans can and should change if you think as you paint, that things need to be added, taken away, or just plain different. Listening to what your painting is telling you and being flexible with your own work is a sure way to a happy end result. Hope you enjoyed the process and being able to see the finished piece. This piece is available on my ETSY site... http://www.artfulcreations.etsy.com/ and will soon be coming to my website.

Butterfly And Pink Rose Original Acrylic On Canvas

I'm back from vacation and I feel very inspired and excited to start painting again. Sometimes a short break is all I need to recharge the creative batteries. I finished this Butterfly and Pink Rose painting before vacation and just put the final touches on it yesterday and was able to officially call it "completed". This is 8 x 10 acrylic on canvas board and comes with the stand shown.

To me, the best thing about this rose is that it is not currently being munched on by Japanese Beetles, like my own roses are at this very moment. Here in NY, this has been a wicked year for those blasted bugs, I have never seen it so bad before. I'm looking forward to the arrival of August as the beetles will be gone then.

A close up of the butterfly and some of the rose detailing.

Currently this is available on my ETSY site: http://www.artfulcreations.etsy.com/ and will soon be coming to my website. In my next post I'll be showing some outrageously small miniatures. I've been working with a worldwide miniatures club doing lots of custom work and I have to say, it has created some new challenges as well as fun painting experiences for me.

Until next time, stay cool and enjoy summer and stay away from the beetles.

Dahlia Watercolor Progress

I've made a good amount of progress since my original post on the Dahlia watercolor. As you can see, I've finished the background at this point. I've also started basing in some of the petals. The above is the photo that I started with.

I could have approached where to start in a few different ways but in the end, I just started wherever I felt like. My next step will probably be basing in more of the petals that surround the ones that I've done.

After I've filled in some more, I will go back and darken and brighten. The colors of the petals as they are now, are just the start. A lot still has to be done to achieve the colors that I want. You never just put down one wash of color and call it quits....many more colors are added afterward to give the flower real depth. I think a nice orange/red will do the trick.

This photo shows how the picture looked after it was cropped. This kind of close-up and this particular view, is what I wanted to actually create my painting from.