Poppy Trio Palette knife painting in oils

Poppy Trio Palette knife painting

20x20cm (8"x8") on box canvas
The sides of the canvas are painted black
No frame required

Day 24 of the 30 day challenge

Available for purchase in my Etsy Store

The thirty day challenge has now finished and I can relax a little.  I have been posting my paintings for the challenge on my daily painting blog as it has been too difficult to keep up with the two blogs. Over the next few days I will repost my flower paintings on this blog.

About this painting
This is an upcycled painting, also of poppies, that I sort of liked but it was a bit dark. I decided to redo the painting (the original one had 5 poppies which also made it a bit crowded). I first painted the highlights with cadmium yellow and then hit it with the red. The painting is now much brighter and livelier and has more impact.

Some close-ups of the knife work

 

Newsletter

I will be sending out my first today or tomorrow. Sign up for my newsletter or blog using the subscription boxes on the left hand column, and you will be entered into a draw for my Sunflowers miniature treasures painting. You have up until the 7th February to be in with a chance.
 

Rose Flower Arrangement still life, No.3 and 4. Miniature treasure paintings

Mini treasure flower arrangement NO. 3 

Palette knife painting by Marion Hedger

Impasto oil

10x10cm (4x4inch) on box canvas
Can be hung without a frame
This is painting No.20 in the 30 day challenge

Available for purchase

Mini treasure flower arrangement NO. 4

Palette knife painting by Marion Hedger

Impasto oil

10x10cm (4x4inch) on box canvas
Can be hung without a frame
This is painting No.21 in the 30 day challenge

Available for purchase

I enjoyed painting these little treasure, they were fun to do and the finished paintings look good with all that textured paint. These paintings would certainly brighten up a dull corner.

Here is a collage of the Rose Flower Arrangement series together

Remembering Summer - Pink Hydrangeas palette knife painting in oils

Memories of summer

Palette knife painting in oils

30x30cm (12"x12) on MDF canvas panel

Available for sale in my Etsy store 

This is painting 14 in the 30 paintings in 30 day challenge

I have several of these hydrangea bushes outside the back door. They have hugh flower heads - although that does depend on if I remember to keep them watered. That is the only draw back of hydrangeas, they do dry out very quickly in our summer heat. The good thing about these hydrangeas is that they don't need watering!

Some close ups

Honesty and glass palette knife painting in oils

 Honesty and glass palette knife painting

18x24cm (approx 7"x10")

Archival canvas panel

I struggled with this painting. The vase and jug are semi opaque and I had difficulty in getting that across. It is hard when using opaque paints to give the illusion of transparency. I also found the background difficult and changed it a few times. Does this one work? The green jug is made of recycled glass and is not symmetrical. I painted it a couple of times, before I discovered it wasn't just my painting LOL! What do you think, should I make it symmetrical?

Here are some close-ups of the painting

This is painting is for day 13 of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge hosted by Leslie Saeta. Pop over to my Joy of Colour blog to see the my other paintings in the challenge.

Old Fashioned - Roses still life

 Old Fashioned

Roses still life palette knife painting

24x30cm (approx 10x12")

Oil on canvas panel
Purchase information

I enjoyed painting my Ikebana series so much, I carried on painting a couple of still lifes featuring roses. This is the first and I will post the second tomorrow.

My aim was to pay particular attention to the lost and found edges and I'm quite pleased with the effect. Unfortunately the camera always make the edges of palette knife paintings seem sharper than they are.

Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

Ikebana 4 - Burnt orange chrysanthemums Palette knife painting

Ikebana 4 - Burnt Orange Chrysanthemums

Oil on canvas panel

24x30 cm (approx 10x12inch)

Palette knife painting
100€, international shipping included

The last of the Ikebana quartet, (but I have reworked No.2 and will post that tomorrow). I enjoyed painting this group of flowers, keeping things very loose and free and using lots of paint.

Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

Ikebana 1 - Pink Chrysanthemums

Ikebana 1 - Pink Chrysanthemums

22x27cm (approx  9"x11")

oil on canvas board

Palette knife painting

I've taken a break from painting landscapes for the last couple of dates to paint some floral still lifes.

I was given a book on Ikebana by a neighbour and this started me thinking about this month's challenge on the floral forum of wetcanvas.com. This painting is inspired by the book, the challenge and my imagination.

It is the first time I have painted chrysanths and I wanted to achieve an ethereal 'look' in the painting. I used a very limited palette and started with an indistinct background using my main colours. I liked the result, if I was to do it again, I would probably make the flowers larger and blend them in more with some of the green. What do you think?

I liked the idea of using Ikebana as the basis of the painting and I have completed four paintings for the challenge so I will post another tomorrow.

Contact me about this or any other painting HERE 

Give a gift of an original artwork, or gift certificate to family and friends. I will gladly gift wrap a painting and send it directly to the recipient with a gift tag. 

Pendulous Petunias, oil painting

 Pendulous Petunias

Oil on canvas panel

24x18cm (approx 7x10")

palette knife painting

Bid on this painting on DPW Here

This painting was part of my 30 days hath September challenge which I have placed for auction on Daily Paintworks.

Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

My smaller paintings make excellent gifts. I will also gift wrap a painting and sending direct to the recipient if you prefer.

Iris Dancing Queens Final - oil painting

 Iris Dancing Queens

Palette knife painting

18x24cm (approx 7x10inch)

oil on canvas MDF panel

I worked on this a little more today, adding a few holes between the irises, some pink and more colour to the background. I am calling it done.

Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

Peach Rose oil painting - Day 22, 30 days hath September challenge

Peach Rose

Oil palette knife painting

15x15cm (6"x6") on gessoed panel

Day 22, 30 days hath September challenge

 I had a fancy to paint roses today, so chose a small piece of prepared MDF with a pink ground. This is my first palette knife rose and is a study for a larger piece. In the last rose I painted I uses a gentle blending technique and I'm finding that I have to stop myself blending too much as I still want the impasto look.
Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

Petunia Bonus oil painting, Day 21, 30 days hath September

Petunia Bonus oil painting

18x24cm

Oil on MDF canvas panel

Day 21, 30 days hath September

This painting is a bonus. Every year I buy several hanging baskets in the spring, like most of us do, of course. The petunias last until about the middle of August and then just seem to fade. 

I put this pot of petunias at the back of the garden (I hate throwing away any sort of plant). Early this week I saw that it had sprung back to life and the petunias were so nice and bright. I placed them on a ledge to admire them and then a shaft of sunlight hit them lighting them up nicely. Of course I had to paint them - hence the title.

Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

Dancing Queens - Day 2 30 days hath September

Dancing Queens - Rudbeckias

Day 2 30 Days Hath September Challenge

Oil on gessoed panel, palette knife painting

15x20cm (6"x8")

The second painting in the challenge and I am no more organised than yesterday. I have been wanting to paint my rudbeckias for the last few weeks so the perfect challenge for today. I used a prepared gessoed MDF panel that I had painted with a blue and pink underpainting. There's was quite a bit of texture on the panel so I decided to use thick paint applied with a palette knife to compliment the background.



See yesterday's painting HERE

Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

White Hydrangeas

Summer is a pretty dry time in my garden. After the beautiful flush of flowers in June and sometimes goes into July, the garden dries out and the flowers go into a sort of hibernation. They usually rejuvenate again in September and give me a second flush of colour.

I made a mistake this year with my white hydrangeas, I cut them almost to ground level. I was reading the instructions and merrily went ahead. It was only when I had finished I discovered that I was reading the wrong label and should not have pruned them at all! I was so annoyed with myself. I did get a few flowers but nothing that matched their splendour last year.
Here is a painting from last year that shows how big these hydrangea flowers get:

White Hydrangeas

Oil on canvas panel

30x30cm

This painting is for sale on Dailypaintworks HERE

Poppy sunshine trio oil painting

 Poppy sunshine trio

20x40cm (8"x16") oil on thick box canvas

canvas sides are painted dark blue so can be hung without a frame

See here to purchase

Today I just felt like painting poppies.

Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

Container Colour garden flowers oil painting

 Container colour

18x24cm (approx 7"x10")

Oil on MDF canvas panel

Started paitning using a brush and finished with a palette knife

 Another painting of my container plants. This one has some lovely coral coloured pelargoniums (trailing geraniums). I wondered how I was going to translate that wonderful colour in paint. After deliberating which red to use, it turned out to be quite simple. With my last order of paints I purchased some Scarlet Lake, a colour I had never used before. When I mixed it with white, the perfect coral hues appeared.

Here are some WIP photos.
Step 1 - I used a red ground, which in hindsight was the wrong choice. Something that contrasted with the coral would have been better and would have made it easier to give the coral colour more pizazz.

I used a thin wash of paint to block in the local colours.

Step 2
More colour and thicker paint added trying to define the lights.

Step 3
In step 3 involved using more of the palette knife and adding more shadow and highlights using thicker paint for the highlights. I also added more breathing space to the upright geraniums and lightened the background. Unfortunately I was so involved in painting I forgot to take a photo.
 
Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

I painted some of my container geraniums last year. See HERE and HERE

Looking up, Pink Lilies painting in oils

Looking Up, Pink Lilies

18x24cm (approx 7"x10")

Oil on canvas panel, 
painted with a brush and finished with a palette knife.

Each spring I plant up several containers with a mix of flowers. Several years ago I planted several containers with lily bulbs. Once they stop flowing they are put into a corner of the garden and forgotten about. But each year they perform wonderfully. Their only care is watering and a bit of feed. These are lilies from one of those containers. Painted alla prima, in situ. It's lovely painting outside, but the sun does have a habit of moving around making it difficult to catch the light. You have to make up your mind early on where the lights and darks are to be placed.

Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

Casseroled Pansies oil painting

Casseroled Pansies

Oil on canvas panel

18x24cm (approx 7"x11")

The third of my pansy paintings, this time in one of my favourite little casseroles. As well as going into the oven, this casserole will also go onto an open flame or electric element. I unpotted the pansies, and much to their disgust, I squashed the roots into the casserole (it is quite small) to give me this arrangement.

I am not sure about the lid? It looks sort of OK but every now and then, it bothers me - I've been looking at it for a few days and I am unsure of whether or not to correct it. Hubby says leave it alone - it looks OK. What do you think?

I painted a second, slightly larger on of this composition which I will post soon. You'll be pleased to know, I rescued the pansies and re-potted them, lol.


Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

You may also be interested in my first two pansy paintings:
Pansy Fever and Colourful Pansies 

Pansy Fever Oil Painting

 Pansy Fever by Marion Hedger

Oil on canvas board 24x30cm (approx 10" x 12")

Painted wet in wet.

Another pansy painting straight off the easel. I love painting these pansies, and those yellow ones really talk to me. This is slightly larger than my earlier pansy painting (see HERE) and more of a still life composition. I painted it wet in wet, trying to stay loose. I succeeded in parts, but I still find myself trying to put in all the details.
This is still wet and I will look at it tomorrow to see what needs tweaking. Those blue shadows are too blue in this photo, so I will also see if I can get a better photo. I always have trouble with photographing blues.

Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

Cosmos Party, Oil Painting

 Cosmos Party by Marion Hedger

20x20cm (8"x8")

Oil on canvas board

This painting was one of my first oil paintings. It was painted about 18months ago when I was still very much a novice with oil painting. I wanted to see if I could replicate the looseness I can achieve in pastel. I think I achieved it in this small painting and I like the result, it has a looseness and freshness about it that sometimes can be lost as you progress. As they say, "ignorance is a wonderful thing" LOL.
Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

Pink Geraniums oil painting

 Pink Geraniums Container Plant by Marion Hedger

Oil on canvas panel, 17x24 cm (approx 7"x11")

These pink geraniums - or should I say pelargoniums? - are part of my container garden that brightesn up my back patio area in the summer. Because we have such dry summers, it is hard to have anything flowering as most of the plants go into a dormant stage. So I plant up a lot of containers to brighten the barbeque area. It's a win win situation as they are also lovely to paint.

Part of my Garden 101 series.

To bid on this painting CLICK HERE

Contact me about this or any other painting HERE