Eve and Mike have asked me to paint a smaller version of a painting that I did of two small irises. The original painting is about five feet high and the new painting will be 3 feet. Here is a photo of the original:
This photo was the original inspiration for the painting:
These irises are very small, only about six inches high. A five foot painting of a six inch flower conveys the monumentality that it deserves! It will be interesting and fun to revisit this friend.
I've finally gotten underway with the painting! The canvas is stretched and I've attached corner supports on the back of the painting to keep it from warping. Next, I made a basic grid to help locate the picture on the canvas. Using that, I sketched in the picture, making changes as I went along to respond to the smaller size of the picture.
This has given me the chance to revisit an old friend!! I have made two versions of this painting, and in this third version, I am going to try to resolve one composition issue that the two previous paintings had: the lower left corner of the painting had an iris bud in it in the original version of the painting. I felt that it tended to change the internal balance of the picture from what I wanted. In the second version, I emptied that corner and placed the third "bud" in the lower right side instead. Now, I'm back to the original version, but I'm planning to fix the balance issue by making the bud smaller. Ve vill see vat ve vill see!!!
Next step was to start filling in the dark areas of the painting.
This allows the picture to take shape quickly and commits the painting, to some degree, to this composition.
The darks went in well, so I moved on to the "greens." I thought it would help to make all the greens and go for the color contrasts in the original. I can see that the very light green/blue in the foreground was a complex color and I made several attempts to mix colors to get at the intensity, if not the exact hue.
The greens appear to be going on brighter than the original, but I like how the contrasts are turning out. Once the main green colors were put on, I could then do the smaller contrasting ones. I like how this is developing.
The background colors are in and the foliage is essentially finished (might need to adjust after the flowers are filled in). I started on the flowers by making the lower left bud and the leaves under the main flowers. I also kept working on the contrasts with the viny stems which travel across the painting horizontally.
I've started filling in the background purples in the lower of the two irises. Trying to decide how much of the detail from the original should be included. I'm inclined to try to simplify these somewhat because the painting is a lot smaller, but some of the lines are dramatic and should be included.
The painting is finally covered with a layer of oil paint everywhere. Time for the first "dining room" critique. This is because the dining room is the best spot in my house for viewing a painting from a distance. Looking at the painting from this vantage point, I can see that the upper flower is too light so have to fix that. Also, there is an unintended straight line at the bottom of the lower flower which needs to be fixed. Otherwise, the painting is moving along nicely (but we'll see...)
Went ahead and corrected the vertical line, somewhat and increased the color in the upper flower. Also continued working up the detailing in both flowers. I think I'll be doing these smaller adjustments for a while, but don't foresee any major changes. I'm going to let the painting rest for several days and then come back to it and have another look.
Trying to increase the contrasts within the flowers. The top flower is a little light, so I want to add some color. Also, the bottom flower needs to be darker so that the lighter greens will show. Starting in on that.
The strip of green in the lower flower is too skunky looking, so have to break into it. Also, I'm starting to wade into the painting over all to correct the feathery edges and better define all the colors and forms. This involves remixing virtually all the colors so that the edges are worked without changing the color.
Waded in and got the edge corrections finished fairly quickly. The painting is basically complete now, although I might, in a fit of hysteria, wade back in and "fix" a few minor details. I'm very happy with the outcome. This project gave me a chance to revisit an old friend and resolve one of the composition issues which reappeared through two other versions of the subject. Now, I just want to let the painting dry and then I'll attach a wood frame.
Finally made it to Worcester to deliver the painting to Eve and Mike. Here they are with the painting installed!
