From My Garden

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Roses from My Garden, Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

Most often, but not always, I paint artificial flowers. This time, however, I went to my tiny garden and cut from my shrub rose bush I’ve had for 4 years. I don ‘t typically cut nor paint fresh flowers. I prefer to leave growing flowers in place. Most likely, they wouldn’t last long enough anyway. Even when I had a huge garden, it was the same. This rose is not such a great one. II’ve had great roses of many varieties but they can grow to be really huge and I have no room for that. My shrub roses are OK, if not great for painting. They don’t have long stems, only weak thorny stems. I cut a few, then wondered how to contain them. I wanted to use my brass cup which has the large opening of a cup. That wouldn’t work – until a smaller container I could insert could be found. It worked. I took photos and used the photos and fresh roses to work from. The already prepped and textured panel was perfect for this effort. This panel was 3 years old just waiting to be chosen. I was ready to go. Above is the painting. II like it. I has a vintage look, helped along by the texture of the panel. I particularly love the green of the foliage – shiny and bright. It makes me think it is a live plant.

Hope your week was good. Winifred

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Breathing Room

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Orchids in Red Vase 11×14 Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

I’ve long wanted to paint an image in this style – an image soft and atmospheric. But, I always chased the detail. In this instance I had blocked in the background enough to know what the color and depth would be. I had painted the vase enjoying the rich color, form and highlight. An initial simple shape of the fruit had been painted. I could turn my attention to the orchids, which had been loosely “rubbed” out of the initial paint layers. Already I liked this painting – it was loose and without too much detail. I only had to finalize all and paint the flowers – or so I thought. The conversation went something like this with my inner voice speaking – really it did.

“YOU’RE DONE WITH THE FLOWERS” What? I said – I really haven’t started on them. “NO. YOU’RE DONE WITH THE FLOWERS – FINISHED”. I wanted to resist – I hadn’t painted the flowers – maybe just a little more paint to shape the petals and to turn their edges, I thought. Resisting, I picked up the brush and put a bit of shadow color on a few petals, and added a bit of highlight color – I didn’t like it. I wiped off the paint. “I TOLD YOU YOU WERE DONE”, said my inner voice, AND IT DIDN’T LOOK BETTER WHEN ADDED PAINT”….. And so I was done.

I’ve never created such soft irregularly shaped, low contrast flower petals in a painting EVER! Look back at last weeks post – hugely different. As a result, I want to create more softness and atmosphere! In general people love contrast. Ask them which image they like and they will they choose the one with the greatest contrast – contrast to them meaning it’s a better image. There’s a place for contrast for sure, but at this time I’m interested in exploring atmosphere and lower contrast, a quality which has alluded my paintings. I wasn’t confident enough to employ this technique, and didn’t really know how to achieve it, and it occurred in this painting, only because I heard a voice greater and louder than mine. I’m pretty excited.

The 5 days of extreme heat – meaning the temperature reached 88 degrees – is over – at least for a while. Finally, I purchased a big air conditioner, and did so before I even knew there would be a heatwave. It was inevitable that the need would occur at some point. Our nights, however, remained cool this time. All is well in Poulsbo. I hope you’re enjoying your summer. I hope you enjoyed my atmospheric painting. Winifred

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Roses in Green Vase

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Pink Roses in Green Vase 12×12 Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

Hope you had a fun holiday. It was my first day of air conditioning, but it wasn’t too hot – only 80 degrees. Roses are so complex to paint but I keep trying. In a recent podcast interview of quite an excellent artist, he recalled that in art school, he would view other artist work and think he wished he could paint so well, he wished painting would get easier. He thought that would be the case in the future. Now, 20 years later and a highly acknowledged painter, he proclaims, that though he is more experience with more developed skills, it NEVER gets easier. I hope I don’t bore you with my regular mention of how difficult any given painting was – which is all of them. Sometimes all I can think about is the constant struggle. I should just accept that this is the nature of the journey. and be careful not to go to the point of frustration or a negative mindset. That’s likely why painters remain engaged for so long. They never get to the place of feeling bored, or feel as though they’ve figured it all out. It’s a constant struggle.

The vase is one of my favorite parts of the painting. I changed the original colors but generally maintained the pattern of the vase. It looks lustrous almost like marble. I’m going to rest from roses for a bit to try something different. Have a wonderful week. Winifred

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Roses in Small Brass Container

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Roses in Small Brass Container – Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

Since last I saw you, I’ve been incredibly busy creating new still life reference images to paint. I have a huge collection of “silk” flowers, many diverse yards of fabric, many vases and other containers and a great and versatile video light with I really love. Having such an assortment of goods, I decided to set up new floral still lifes to photograph. I didn’t plan to began my photo shoot at midnight, but I did, and it continued to 4 a.m. I so enjoyed what I was capturing that my obsessive compulsive tendencies were apparent to me. In addition my creative energy always seems to increase with the lateness of the hour. Over the next few days, I continued to set up new back drops, table-top settings, vases of flowers and light configurations. I photographed so many images, that not even one tenth of the images were preserved. I now have a new selection of still life references to choose from. I seem to prefer ones with dramatic and high contrast lighting. I enjoyed such lighting in the image above along with the warm pretty colors, the texture in the background and foreground cloth, and the shapes the shadow and highlights form. It’s so important to begin a painting with a good reference and one which is exciting to paint. I considered setting up my still life and painting it from life but my studio set up is not right for this at the moment.

Bye for now. Hope you enjoy. Winifred

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Peony Buds

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Peony Bud Bouquet in Decorative Pitcher – Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

A couple weeks ago a friend gave me a large beautiful bouquet of peonies from her garden. There were pink peonies with a light yellow centers and even larger white ruffly peonies. I began photographing them right away. I knew I would select a reference image from them one day, when I wanted a very complex and difficult image to paint. I continued to photograph the peonies as the petals wilted and the bouquet grew smaller. The pink flowers with yellow centers wilted first, days later, the white ruffly ones lost their petals. Thereafter, only white buds remained until one of the buds, began to unfold as a small flower. The buds and young flower were originally white but I wanted a different look and feel hence painted them pink and lavender colors and added the small decorative pitcher.

The peonies have all faded now – until they come again next spring. I am happy I captured the many stages of their life in photographic files, in addition to these two oil paintings as memories.

The painting below reflects the last of the larger white peonies and some of the remaining buds. (The pink flowers with yellow centers are not represented in these paintings).

Peony Flower with Buds Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

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Study of John Singer Sargent Portrait of a Capri Girl

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Study – Sargent “Portrait of a Capri Girl” 1878 – 9×12 Oil Painting

It’s difficult to even find this image on the internet because it’s such an early work painted by Sargent and no doubt it’s not one of his most popular paintings. However, I found it at some point in the past and saved it to a collection of his portraits I keep on my computer as possible references. She was one of his very first models. I have created another study of the other from his set of two paintings of the Capri Girl. It is nearly 16×20 and I enjoy it on my wall. At a point I just quit working on this one and decided that “near enough” was good enough”. After all, it was intended as a study, not a copy, and I felt I’d derived sufficient benefit from the process. I wasn’t sure what that was in this instance, but it’s always useful to attempt Sargent’s brushstrokes. I think, I’ll next attempt a still life. I have some new references. Have a wonderful weekend. Winifred

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Beads in her Hair

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Beads in Her Hair 9×12 Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

My painting this week was influenced a little by the Rembrandt study I posted last week, though the beads in her hair give it a pop of modernity. I like it. I enjoy the portrait look of the Old Masters which continues to influence many modern painters. The poses, the lighting, and even the expressions have a certain look. The reference image for this p ainting was a young girl about 10 years old, wearing a very colorful sundress sitting in a swing on a playground in bright sun. This is why she is lit from above. I subdued the lighting atop of her head to keep the focus on her face. I also subdued her expression, making it a little more serious. I wanted to add a pop of color and decided on turquoise which is a nice compliment to the gold and orange colors on her face. So far, I haven’t wanted to change the painting but I make no promises.

The painting is showing up in this post a bit darker than I see it but I know it will vary on every device anyway. There’s nothing I can do about that. Enjoy your day. Winifred

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Study of a Master Painting

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Study of Rembrandt Self Portrait 9×12 Oil Painting

Rembrandt (1609 – 1669) Dutch Painter and one of the most influential painters who ever lived. If you ask most painters and others knowledgeable about painters, he is likely to be their favorite. Formally, as a photographer, we’d referred to Rembrandt lighting, which describes a specific light pattern on the face. You can see it above – light coming from the side but creating a pattern of light on the opposite cheek and a shadow extending on the shadow side of the face down to the upper lip. It’s a dramatic light pattern which works well for a seriously posed face. I enjoyed creating this study. It was difficult of course and all portraits are but I derived benefit and will take some of his techniques into a future painting I have planned. Also, very significant to his paintings is the very strong contrast with shadows fading softly into a dark background – edges of the hair are lost. Painting Master Copies or Master Studies have always served as a significant learning tool and I will paint more of these studies in the future.

Below is the “red” version of the initial painting. As you know, I pretty much “finish” a painting and shortly thereafter decide I am not happy with it. I decide I need to do more or need to make changes, often MAJOR changes! Most of the time I don’t show you the “after”. Though in this case, I even said I wouldn’t continue to work on this painting. That’s how much I didn’t like it – but it kept talking to me and I took it back to the easel.

Two Bricks – Two Apples 9×12 Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

When I decided the painting below wasn’t working, I no longer allowed myself to look at the reference photo. I wouldn’t allow it to give guidance any longer. I alone would have to figure out out what I wanted the new changes to be. That’s taking a bold step as the changes to the “red” painting are pretty dramatic. How it turned out is less important than that I was willing to put aside the photo reference. Fortunately I do prefer the latter version. I like the fact that the elements all flow into each other, it’s more painterly and I love the many reds. One thing for sure is the more I put reference images aside, the better off I will be, allowing a greater channel for creativity. Have a wonderful weekend. I have just begun a new portrait.

2 Apples 2 Bricks and Grapes Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

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Third Time Around

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Kazakhstan Girl with Necklace, Version 3, 12×16 Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

This painting has had quite a journey. I think I am finally satisfied with the painting above. It’s rather refined, something I’m comfortable with.This time I added a lace shawl and a more refined necklace patterned after one of my mom’s broaches. Painting the lace and the jewels was a new experience. It’s a matter of making just the right brush marks and using the colors reflected by the light. I found it interesting and rather effective.

Do you recall the progression of the previous versions? See both below. First (the gold) a loosely painted version (photo a bit distorted) which I over painted because of my insecurity paint about loose paintings. I regret that. Below that, I made changes attempting a tighter painting,which I didn’t care for. This led to today’s third version.

I am currently working on a Rembrandt copy. It’s very interesting to do do. It’s not really a copy but but an exercise using Rembrandt’s painting as the reference.

Kazakhstan Girl Oil Painting 12×16 by Winifred Whitfield

Kazakhstan Girl – Version Two 12×16 Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

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Ruffly Tulips

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Red and Purple Ruffly Tulips

After the beautiful red long stemmed tulips faded, this shorter stemmed ruffly variety in intense rose/red and purple tulips emerged. They reminded me of roses and I assure you they were equally complex to paint. I had planted this variety in a flower pot on the edge of a little walkway to my front door where I could see them easily even from indoors. I photographed them about 5 times during the changing light of day allowing me to have a choice of lighting and color. I guess it’s no surprise that I went with the most high contrast and vivid version of color though the other lighting versions were pretty also. Below is the first painting I created and I like it though the photo does it no justice.

Ruffly Tulip Overcast by Winifred Whitfield 9×12 Oil Painting.

The light was cooler on this day, hence an overall cool tone is also. Even these tulips have faded now but I certainly enjoyed them. My neighbors have also. I am pleased that I captured these memories. I have tried over wintering bulbs but have not been successful. I won’t even try this year. I will toss the plants into my compost and start fresh next year. I enjoy the various varieties that are being created year to year. I also share bulbs and pots of bulbs with my nearest neighbors – about 4 different neighbors this time. I know they love them though they might not obtain them for themselves. My Itoh Peony is full of buds, just about ready to bloom. I’m very excited about this.

Well, I’ve had a nice break from portraits. I said I would do a portrait painting for this week but got caught up in tulips. I should have saved these flowers for Mother’s Day. Oh well! I really think I will have a new portrait next time unless one of those peonies blooms! Have a wonderful week. Winifred

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