A Painting for Nancy and Fred's Florida Condo or For Me if It Doesn't Work For Them!!

Nancy and Fred bought a condo in Florida which is very charming! They are happy with how they set it up, but far be it from me to leave well enough alone!! I saw a painting at an art fair and it inspired me to attempt a good sized painting for them in similar colors.  Here's a shot, from a distance in order not to be found out, the source of the inspiration:

Inspiration

Apologies to the lady who got in the way.  The painting is filled with grey, yellows, light beige, and white colors, which match the primary colors in Nancy and Fred's condo.  So that's why I thought it would be lovely for them to have something like that.

Now, the only issue for me is not the image: shouldn't be hard to find something that's very Florida in my own photos (like orchids or hibiscus). The issue for me is the color scheme: none of my favorites are here such as blues, greens, etc. So I'll be working outside my comfort zone.

I have let Nancy and Fred know that they are in no way obligated to accept the painting. That lets them off the hook (and me too). So I'll be finishing work on the image I want to use and then stretching some canvas.  I've chosen 28" x 48" as the size, so if I blow it, I blow it big!


Here's the canvas, stretched and ready to go.  There is a pencil drawing of the painting on the canvas already, although I will spend more time on the drawing before I start to paint.

Orchid Cascade #1

Next step was to decide on a color for the background and lay that on.  This helps with finalizing the drawing as well as setting the color tones for the painting. I chose a grey/purple tone as a proxy for the grey/brown tones in Fred and Nancy's condo. 

Orchid Cascade #2 

I think this is a very good start (unusually good for my work) for the painting.  My job will  be to work off this solid design and keep the lightness and airy feeling alive.  I plan to keep the orchids very light in color, with varying shades of white and grey.  The centers will have small amounts of yellow and gold as highlights.  Haven't figured out the stems, but I'm thinking silver tones. I've ordered some silver colored oil paint which should be here when I get back after the holidays.

Ok, so, I just couldn't resist getting into the painting and seeing what I could do the day before leaving.  Here is a sequence of photos showing how the painting evolved across one day of intense effort:

Orchid Cascade #3

Orchid Cascade #4

Orchid Cascade #5

I can see that I need to edit the top of the third orchid, to fix the perspective.  Shouldn't be a big deal to do that. Of course, the hardest part of the painting will be the centers of the orchids, where I'm going to try to use some contrast colors, and the stems, which I'm hoping will work with black or silver paint, or perhaps yellow, or perhaps, who knows!! That will, in fact, have to wait until I get back in January.

Ok, so I just got back, celebrated New Years, and now I'm ready to go!! The next step for this painting, now that the new tubes of silver paint have been received, is to wade into the centers of the orchids and get some silver and yellow paint going.  I started with the flowers on the right side of the painting, and then tackled the one on the left. Also put some paint on the stems, just to see how they were doing. Stu suggested brighter yellow colors, but I'm going to proceed as planned and see how it turns out first.

Here's the painting as it looks now:

Orchid Cascade #6

I think this is working out pretty well, so far. Want to fix some drawing issues on the left side before going into the last flower. The silver paint is doing a nice job in highlights on the petals, so will fool around with that some more in a few days when things are dryer.

Worked for several hours today trying to get the entire canvas covered with paint.  All is covered now except for the middle of the second orchid. I have tried to build in the yellow highlights and to balance the colors in the various petals and little more. This has reduced some of the contrast, but will make it more possible to build in some interesting highlights later on.  I also experimented with a slightly darker background on the right side, and I don't think that will stay.

Orchid Cascade #7

In the next painting session, I plan to push most of the green paint aside which is in the bulbs, and centers of the two open flowers. Also, want to build in more detail on the flower petals of the first two orchids, and lighten the dark area in the first flower.  In addition, will lighten the background all over the painting. This last go round lost some of the interesting colors at the middle of the first orchid, so need to also address that.

After several days of work, which included changing the color of the background and wading back into all the flowers, the painting has taken on more blue color than I originally planned.  I like it better this way, so want to keep it. The color scheme that I started with just didn't work for whatever reason, and I'm content with the change.  Here is the latest version of the painting (the flash on the camera created some flashes in the background which aren't actually there):

Orchid Cascade #8

The photo looks more blue all over than the actual painting is. In the next session, I'm going to add some purple color to some of the highlights in the first and second orchids, and in the buds. That should essentially complete the painting, except for some clean up in the center of the first two orchids.  In the original photo, there are orange/red dots on the inside petals which I will consider putting on.  Close enough to completion to paint my name on the side, something that I usually do before the painting is done, but toward the end.

After several days of wipe on/wipe off, my usual mode of painting, I'm thinking that the painting is complete for now.  The next step is to take it to Nancy and Fred's condo and see what it looks like there. This will help determine if it is actually complete, or whether, for example, more color is needed in the background, or, as I've been considering, some faint leaf shapes in the background to break up the color.

Orchid Cascade #9

I'm baack!!! Here we are months later and back in Florida. Time to work on the painting.  First step was to take the painting to Fred and Nancy's condo and see how it looks.  After putting the painting in their living room, we could see that my resorting to blue colors to substitute for grey did not work and the flowers would need to be redone with grayer colors. 

Orchid Cascade #10

Fred suggested that I also add yellow to the background to help the flowers stand out.  In addition, after adding a lot of purple and grey paint, I realized that it might help to add some more color to the flowers. I added turquoise and some  green just to see what that would do and I was happy with the result. Next step is to up the amount of yellow in the background. Plan is to wait for the paint to dry in the painting, and then lighten and colorize the flowers a little more. This seems to be worked and I'm happy with where the painting is going.

Here is the painting in what is close to finished.  I've added some more highlights to bring out some of the new colors, but think that it is essentially done. Next step is to get it back to the condo and see whether it "flies."

Orchid Cascade #11

It has been said that no oil painting is ever completed until it is removed from the artist's studio!Accordingly,  I returned to the painting over the last few days to see if I could punch it up.  After viewing it in its frame, and also on the wall of the condo, I realized that it needed more work.  I increased the color of the background to one that I think is closer to the yellow in the condo, and I worked on the colors of the flowers to increase the purple hue  In addition, I worked on the outlining of the flowers to give more accent and as an opportunity to add more color. With these changes, I feel better about the painting and I anticipate that there won't be any more changes. But then again...

Orchid for Fred and Nancy
Oil: 28" x 48"
2016

Here are Nancy and Fred with their painting at the condo in Florida.  I think, all considered, it came out well and looks very nice in their space.