"Then there were Two"

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10"x 8" Oil on stretched canvas

  It's such a challenge for me to make a yellow or white rose look like what they are. There's more color going on there then you notice at first.  Grays, dull purples/blues......you have to mix some of these in to create the value range needed to make the flower Pop.   

Of the flowers in a bottle paintings I've posted so far, I think this one is my favorite.  I'm finally managing to loosen up - how I apply  my strokes....LEAVE THEM ALONE.....not go back over and over and start creating too many sharp"edges" or completely blend color together on canvas.   

If I keep working the paint, I begin to dissect my subject and get rapped up in the details.  That's not my goal when I begin a painting.  Sound familiar?...like....the subject of "overworking" a piece?

 The more I paint, the more I focus on the bigger shapes before me.  When I worked exclusively in pencil, I would focus on showing even the smallest detail (like eye lashes) when doing a portrait.  Yes, I'm re-training myself to not get so tied up in the details.

Hmmmmmm., sounds like life posters I've seen...."Don't get hung up on the small stuff". 

I also have to share a quote I have on a posted note by our computer.....

"Art washes away from the Soul the dust of everyday life." - Pablo Picasso 

This could be said about music too!  I think that's why I love hearing my son play when I visit him.  Reminds me of listening to my dad play the violin...his true passion.  My Dad could make the instrument "sing" and my Son does the same thing with his guitar.