Yellow Rose of Promise

Dailypaintworks challenge this week is to paint a rose.

Yellow Rose of Promise

Promise when it is not so hot outside, I will get to the gardening.

Dailypaintworks challenge of the week, paint a rose. One of the more difficult flowers to paint, at least for me. My new neighbor gave me several rose bushes last year and luckily I managed to find this bloom. Heat and water restrictions, combined with neglect, this little, yellow Rose did survive.

Yellow Rose of promise

The weekly DailyPaintWorks challenge is to paint a Rose. I have a few neglected Rose bushes in my backyard. The heat has probably chased away even Mrs. Greenthumbs. I found a few blooms and a couple of buds to photograph.

Another look

I did this painting in watercolor from a photo taken of an impending storm. This is my oil version. It was the atmosphere of electricity that I was feeling while working on the sky. I have been thinking of focusing on skies and seascapes. There is just a range of moods conveyed in the sea and sky. Serenity, peace, calm, meditation paradise. In a moment that can change to angry, turbulent, blown of your feet, crushed by waves, all wonderful emotions!

The color spectrum is always changing in the clouds and sea. My favorite color palette is the gloaming at sunset. I love the reflective color in the crest of a wave and the pink, orange hue in the foam at sunset. Even in the deep grey of Winter, you can find color at sunrise and sunset, well, only a few in the Great Lakes region.

Rantings of a beach person.

Primary Colors

This DPW challenge was very deceptive. At first glance painting this photo in primary colors and using 3 values, seemed so easy. I am very out of practice, and probably spoiled, regarding color mixing.The biggest challenge for me was not using white. I did some scraping, added more medium. Very difficult. I decided it was impossible to avoid not using white and only used a dab here and there.

I love this subject. I have twin Grandsons that in a few days will be 6 months old. Can I tell you I hope to spend many summer days at the beach with the boys when they get a little older? I lived in Florida while my own children were growing, our best memories are at the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico. No electronics, just discoveries, wonderful conversation and buckets of laughter.

Summer Breeze

I know a lot of people are not fans of the summer heat. Beach people tolerate the heat better than most creatures. My cats stretch out under the ceiling fan, how nice to not have to move, ever. In another life, I hope to have a small cottage on the beach. I could listen to crashing waves and the snap of the brisk wind thru the curtains all day, every day. A glass of wine would complete this picture in my head.

Here are my recent grocery store treasures.

Small Painting

The challenge this week is to paint very small. 2.5 by 3.5. Made popular by The Artists Trading Cards of recent, this is harder than it seems but fun.

This painting was inspired by a group of Birch trees on Presque Isle State Park in Pennsylvania.

Inspiration in the grocery store.

I only hope that there are other people who shop the produce department of their local grocery store for painting inspiration. The next subject will be that perfect bunch of asparagus with its lovely blue rubber bands.

I found these wonderful cherries in the sunshine hard to resist.

Excitement

My muse is definitely Lake Erie. Misunderstood, in the past the object of many jokes. I find it's beauty mysterious, ever changing, and a constant source of inspiration.

If I was not a painter, my second choice in life for favorite past time would be a storm chaser. On the day I took this photograph, a severe weather statement was issued for Presque Isle. I grabbed my camera and took an amazing set of photos. I love when a storm bellows in across the lake. You can see it coming, the winds pick up in seconds and a colorful sunset can change its pallet in a blink. I love it.

For the DPW challenge of painting my muse, Lake Erie Storm Warning.

Summer colors

What started out as a very cool and lengthy spring has now blasted into an inferno of a summer. Summer is my favorite season, but the heat for most of the country is nothing to joke about. Living next to one of the Great Lakes cools the air a little.

My daughter brought me this huge pot of colorful flowers, this is a painting of just one section of this lively mix. I wanted to paint it loose and used a large brush to give it an abstract, impressionistic feel. I don't know if that happened but it was fun to paint.

Yesterday, my daughter took her beloved budgie to the vet. She was 15 years old, her mate died last March. It was very sad to see what old age does to the avian world is not far from what happens to everyone and everything. My daughter was 13 when we got Scully and Mulder, and I feel very differently now about caging beautiful birds. They did have a lot of spunk and I believe a lot more intelligent that they are given credit. Will miss them both.

Serenity

Finally getting back into the swing of things, a lot going on the past two months. Additions and subtractions to the family.

This weeks DPW challenge was to do a painting from a photo taken by a mobile phone. I will post more at another time.