Driving back to the caravan at the lake, in Queensland today all the peach blossoms and wattles were in bloom and I found myself eagerly thinking of my summer studio and rose garden. I was eager to paint roses once more.
This is the last work I was painting before we left for our winter in Queensland and it will be the first I return to put the finishing touches to, varnish and sign then order some prints.
I rill be selling the prints though a Rose-Perfume store on EBay. The store does not sell perfume, it is more about stopping to smell the roses.
Painting an oil painting is similar to writing a novel, you start of loose and work broadly and not until the block in has been done do you return to detail and complete the work.  Can I find time paint, sell my art, write and promote my novels, take Reg fishing and have family time and be active? 
This is the year I try.  Oh abd I forgot...have time to sleep :-).

I have 7 only NEW Easel Boxes packed out with a starter kit of art supplies that I am selling at the WHOLESALE HALF of the Recommended Retail Price.  Once these are sold I will not be offering deals like this again these are over from when Reg and I closed our art supplies shop. 

OK, I said I was going to bed, but the painting 'called to me', so I worked in the studio in my nighty until 2 in the morning in this detailing stage of the work.  One Week On and the Oil Painting of the Ivory and lilac roses is in the detail stage with the addition of delphiniums to the painting.    The painting is not finished yet and will I hope look even better photographed in daylight without the flash reflections.    
Well Reg is calling me and reminding me I need to be up early in the morning and logic would have it I should have gone to bed early, but tell my painting that, lol, it was demanding I paint it.  I hope to complete it this week.   Below is the previous stage before I began to add the delphiniums.   I
may have cards made from the before delphiniums stage as well as the after delphiniums image.

This painting is still unfinished but i am enjoying this work immensely and know i will be able to finish it as I have reached the final detail stage.  This stage can take a long time, it is best to 'look more than put' rather than fiddle. This is the time to make only those brush strokes that count.

While you can see the roses I am painting to the side of the painting you need to realize I began painting these roses 36 hours ago and they are no longer the same flower, having opened more today and twisted in the vase as live flowers do.   So I am painting as much from memory now more than referring to the live flowers.

I would love to have an old world, dusty grey gold antique frame to place this in when I finish it.

The price I mentioned in my last blog, was unframed and I would need to confirm that according to size, I am only guessing the canvas size at the moment.  I feel confident I am painting 'a good one', lol, :-), not arrogance, it comes with experience, the knowing when something is 'working'.    I would love to beautifully frame this one when completed and professionally exhibit it.   That is my vanity at work, wanting to have it appreciated as most artists do.  That would raise the price 40% to allow for framing exhibition costs etc.  Sigh, fortunately form customers being a carer does not allow me the luxury or vanity of holding my own art exhibitions any more and I do not put works out on consignment.

Another session in the studio today with the unfinished rose painting and I am pleased with how the rose painting is progressing.
I may no look much to the observer yet but I can see the shapes, tones and colours that make up this arrangement of roses, progressing and another few days will see it closer to completion.

I am still working on the third stage of the painting; refining.

The final stage is the detailing when the buds, stems and more leaves with be developed giving the work a more three dimensional look and greatly improving the composition.

The painting (I think), is 12" x 16" and 'IF' I sell it it will be $960 AU when it is finished and I may reproduce it as small prints, or cards, so let me know early, particularly for the one only original work if you are interested in purchasing.
Genuine interested clients are welcome t view the original by appointment.  Unless this work pre sells and the client prefers I do not show it's further progression, I will continue to update the stages of development of this painting of the ivory cream and lilac roses,

With the canvas covered with the first impressionist block in with the broad blocks or colour and the shapes of the larger light and shade patterns blocked, I visited the studio for a couple more hours and adding a little stand oil where I needed a crisp edge I increased some of my dark value areas.

Removed some of the paint with a rag and added a few of the smaller light shade and colour shapes (the block  in of some rose buds), that had not been added in the initial broader block in.

I will leave it at this stage and hope to get back to it for more work, tomorrow.  I am enjoying this painting and I love the colour harmony.

Reg settled in to watch TV and I had energy over from my day's work so I invited a friend around, picked some roses and planned the colour harmony, arrangement the size of a quality stretched canvas and working with the world's best quality oil paint, Maimari Puro, I blocked in the first stage of a painting of these beautiful lilac and ivory roses with the coral pink snapdragon from my courtyard garden.

The work is of course, unfinished at this stage, a work like this will need an a huge amount of time to do well.  I am simply sharing an oil painting of roses at stage one, The Plan and Stage two, the block in.

With luck i will get the stage three, the refine and stage four the detail, through the week. 
I am approaching my novel writing the same way I paint.  Plan first, then rough block in.  Only then do I begin to refine then detail the work.   The novel needs harmony, balance, passages of light and shade just as the painting does and integrity of an original concept,no copying of others work, there is enough in nature to inspire us without the need to plagiarize.

It was a lovely relaxing night.  My friend who visited is an art student, I wanted her to see and understand that even the professional artist does not produce a detailed work in the first draft.

Many artists use turpentine to clean paint brushes.

As far as I am concerned turpentine is too dangerous a product to use on a regular basis.  There are far safer ways of cleaning brushes. I do not allow any thinner in any form, in my studio.

Wipe off excess paint prior to cleaning.  Pages from old phone books, rag or no name tissues are useful for this purpose.

Place the brushes in inexpensive vegetable oil, I use Canola oil, some pope use baby oil and neat’s-foot oil is ideal for this purpose, but expensive and a bit smelly.

Slosh the brushes around in the vegetable oil, then squeeze out the excess oil, repeat until you have the brushes relatively paint free.

Wash brushes in luke warm water and a super fatted soap.  You can use hair shampoo. It is best to not use a harsh soap or it will dry out the brush bristles too much.

Rinse bristles and carefully shape the hairs and wipe the handles clean and dry.

If any of the hairs look like they are not forming into the shape the brush was in when new, then tear strips of tissue and wrap these strips around the bristles forcing the hairs back into as new shape. Leave these tissue strips in place while brushes dry hair end up in the air.

Don’t let a sales person convince you that odourless turps is less toxic than normal turps, it is just as harmful to the environment and your own health, in fact it is more risky to use because you cannot smell it as easily to realize the studio needs ventilating.

Vegetable oil will not clean your brushes as well as turps so be extra vigilant and clean those brushes well they are worth it and turps is just too harmful to the environment. To use when we have safe substitutes.

 

Painting the Landscape in Pastel By
 
Albert Handell, Anita Louise West


A guide to painting landscapes for beginner to intermediate pastel artists.

From The Publisher:

The lush landscapes that light up these pages, combined with lucid instruction, help artists of all levels achieve impressive results as soon as they begin working with the medium.

Click Link Below, to Order.

 My next bog with show the work at stage four, detailing completed.