I should have referred to them as “blush” roses. I’m trying here to paint a looser rose – but still it needs to resemble a rose I think. Some do and some don’t. Overall. there are some features I like. I like the setting – the table the translucent cloth. I wanted to “crochet” it but didn’t have time. I do have a favorite rose – bottom front and interesting – I had no reference for that one – from imagination only but not easy for me to do. It looks most sheer and soft. However, one shouldn’t be looking at any single rose, the question is – does the painting work. I do like the background. It’s a style of adding texture I can actually repeat – though randomly created. Initially, I thought the green of the vase vase was too dark and too intense, but I left it. It’s a pretty color and. the fade down gives it a hint of glow and transparency which I like. For some reason quite a bit of gray is showing up in this digital image which is not in the painting.

RESISTANCE: You can imagine I’m in pain with the passage today of that HORRIBLE NEW BILL in the House. Hopefully the Senate will block it. They’ve long said they will not allow it to pass. For the good of the country, I certainly hope not. It is so very IMMORAL. Those who voted for it are IMMORAL. Anyone who supports this bill is IMMORAL. They even allowed into this bill the tax exemption of “gun silencers”, and “tanning beds” for the orange guy I suppose. It’s shocking though I should no longer be shocked at anything they do. No one could have fantasied this script for the United States. I keep holding out for a glimmer of humanity in our governance but I’m finding none. And. the orange guy, I guess feels the needs to shore up racism in this country with white Afrikaners who are 4% of the South African population but own 80 % of the land but feel oppressed. Just think, people went to the polls and voted for this guy – otherwise they would have had to vote for a woman who is Black. This is rarely mentioned but we all know it is the truth.

Moody’s just downgraded the bond rating on securities backed by the FULL FAITH AND CREDIT OF THE UNTIED STATES due to the huge increase in deficit projected. This is also a big deal. Interest cost on trillions of debt outstanding just went up on 10 yr. 20 yr. and 30 yr. treasury bonds. This will mean a massive increase in interest cost to the. government. What do they say about this, they say “we don’t care”. They only care about a tax cut for the richest amongst us. This bill will devastate food care and health care for children and elderly and substantially increase the cost of health care to many using the Affordable Care Plan. I’m putting it out to the universe Senators – WE’RE COUNTING ON YOU!

In case you haven’t heard, an item was approved a couple days ago which will turn an AK7 type rifle into a “MACHINE GUN”. Now they can kill more children and other innocents – though “their thoughts and prayers” will be with their families. Winifred

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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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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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