Sunday, April 06, 2008

Yes, I used Yellow Chartreuse

It’s done!!

Yes, the experimental daisies are done and, to be honest, I’m quite relieved that they are. About half-way through working on it I remember thinking: “Damn...why didn’t I do this on Colourfix? I can get way more layering on Colourfix...and it’s easier to hide mistakes.” Alas, I didn’t do it on Colourfix and I also couldn’t bring myself to scrap this one and start over. So I just kept on trucking through it and I’m glad that I did. Without further ado, my Van Gogh Project experimental daisies:

"Sun Seekers"
5x7, coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne
(Sorry 'bout the shadowing on the right side, I'm working on my photography skills...)



Bright, sunny and cheery, the perfect picture to be working on at this time of year. Reminds me that some of those wee daisies are hiding under all that manure I’ve been scooping and they’ll be popping up soon enough.

I’m happy with the way that this one came out and I think that I did as much with this one as I could. Now that it’s done and I’ve had a break from it I can see things I would’ve done differently and most of the issues I encountered were ones that could’ve been avoided if I had given some more thought/ planning to the piece prior to actually starting on it. However, I’m more of a “jump in head first and hope the rocks are small and deep” kinda person so planning was not at the top of my list of things to do.

I decided that since I was working with a solid colour background I would play around with using complementaries in the daisies themselves to add some interest to the piece and satisfy my need to play around with the colour. The nice thing about working with white is that you have some fantastic options for adding colour and with this being a bright piece I felt comfortable adding colours like Yellow Chartreuse and Parma Violet... right next to each other!


I know, I’m just so wild and crazy.


Anyway, here’s a close up of one of the daisies and you can see some more of the colour I’ve played around with:

"Sun Seekers", close-up
Copyright Rita Woodburne


So there you have it. I’m really open to comments and crits for this one because, like I said again and again, this was an experiment. What do you think of the colour? The perspective? The subject matter? The price of tea in China?

I had fun with it. So much so, in fact, that I’ve started another daisy piece. I know, I'm such a glutton for punishment.

Until later this week, keep on art-ing! :D

7 comments:

Jennifer Rose said...

It is very pretty :) Nice perspective, really looks like someone has laid down in the daisies and is looking up.

Ann said...

"What do you think of the colour?"
I love the color, the way you used color here is very exciting and gives the piece a lot of life.
"The perspective?"
Awesome.
"The subject matter?"
Is also about the perspective or visa versa. The view from under the daisys looking up creates much visual interest.
"The price of tea in China?"
Sorry, I haven't priced tea in China lately but the price of milk here is outrageous!

Anonymous said...

Love it!

What do you think of the colour?
Great saturation in the sky. Nice use of purples and yellows in the petals - I can see the sun shining through them. I think you could have pushed it even further! ;D

The perspective?
Unique, fabulous. I like the fuzzed-out edges on the left daisy - it really draws the eye to the one in the center.

The subject matter?
Flowers are done a lot and are often boring - but these rock. I agree with Jennifer about the point of view - they feel like real, growing daisies instead of cut and in a vase. The perspective and composition combine to make this one of the most unique flower pictures I've seen!

Lisa B. said...

I like this perspective because it's different from the norm. The colors are J-U-I-C-Y! The complements work great, giving the flowers enough punch to stand up to the large expanse of sky. The center is my favorite. Really fine work, Rita.

Don't buy tea from China. It's probably colored with lead, just like everything else they export.

Rita said...

Thanks so much for all the comments and crits, I really appreciate the feedback! (can't get better without it, right?)

After it was completed one of the things I wanted to change was the saturation of the colour. You're right Meg, I could've pushed it further which is why I'm doing the second one on Colourfix so I can layer, layer then layer some more.

I'm glad to hear that the perspective made it more interesting visually. Hopefully I can garner the same interest with daisies #2! ;)

Regina said...

Rita-
this post was the shot of cheerfulness I was looking for tonight. I love the perspective because it represents a hopeful outlook to me. Up & out there.
Thanks for sharing your process. I did my first works on MiTients this winter & I found that it does leave something to be desired when wanting to build saturation.
I am looking forward to your next version.

Rita said...

Regina, thanks for the comments!
It's funny because I've used Mi-Teintes quite a bit and know that it's not the best for layering colour so I'm not really sure why I chose to use it. Learning curve, I guess? :)