Nodding Sunflowers and the 30 day collage.

Nodding Sunflowers palette knife painting

Oil on box canvas, 6"x6"x1cm deep.

Available in my Etsy shop

It's been awhile since my last post. I have been painting - participating in the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. I concentrated on landscapes with a few florals, and I have been been posting those on my daily paintings blog.

This painting was No. 16 in the 30 day challenge.
The sunflowers dancing across the painting reminding me of the sunflowers near the lavender fields.

The 30 paintings all together

 In the last few days I have been adding the finishing touches to some of the paintings. Take a look at them on Daily Paintworks.

Limited Palette Study - Cascading Roses, oil painting

Roses Limited palette study

Oil on canvas panel

15x15cm (6x6inch)

Available on Daily Paintworks

I used a limited palette of alazarin crimson, ultramarine blue and cadmium yellow medium plus titanium white.

Using my painting 'Over the garden wall' as a starting point, I wanted to see if I could bring the flowers to life with only the one red. I used Jackson's titanium white instead of my normal Winsor and Newton brand and was surprised at the lovely pink obtained as sometimes pinks can be a bit dull when using alazarin crimson. I worked quickly and very loosely as I didn't want any definition, and I like the spontaneous result obtained.

Working loose at painting Peonies

Bowl of Beauties floral still life

Peony oil painting

20x20cm deep box canvas (1.5inch)

Edges painted purple

Painted with a palette knife.

Available on Daily Paintworks

I was the this month's host of the Plant Parade on Wetcanvas.com - a monthly flower painting challenge in the Florals and Botanical forum. I chose peonies as the subject with a challenge of painting them loosely.

Soft Edges
Obtaining soft edges with a palette knife is difficult, so I first painted the peonies followed by the background. Where I wanted soft edges, I swiped palette knife across the edge to soften it and mix the paint. Where necessary I added extra paint on the knife before swiping going from the petal into the background and sometimes vice versa.
Close-ups
Here are some close-ups showing this

Over the garden wall Palette knife oil painting

Over the garden wall

Palette knife oil painting

On MDF canvas panel

18x24cm (approx 7"x10")

Available by auction on Daily Paintworks

Last month a local village held it's annual rose festival. This area is well known for growing flowers for the perfume industry (Grasse is not far away), and this village is renown for growing roses and extracting the oil.

Walking through the village, this beautiful rose was making a huge statement in someone's garden and I couldn't resist taking a few photos. I also came away with another climbing rose and several other plants for the garden.

Some close-ups of the texture achieved with the palette knife.

Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

Ikebana 2 - white chrsanthemums

Ikebana 2 White Chrysanthemums

Oil on canvas panel

Palette knife painting

18x24cm (approx 7x10inch)

Painting No.2 in my quartet of ikebana paintings.

Of the four paintings I feel that this one is the least successful and needs further work. The chrysanths are the type that have a round head but with the lower petals hanging down. I haven't quite captured that here and I also need to do something about the vase. I will post the rework over the next couple of days.

See the post for the first painting HERE

Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

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