Bouquet Without Stems

Bouquet Without Stems   oil/canvas   12 x 12 x 1.5

was not a planned project.  Sometime in March, I started seeing lots of primrose plants in the stores.  Primroses are on my list of "poorly painted subjects from the past" that, eventually, I have plans to attempt again....along with swans and pumpkins.  And so, I laid a plan.  On the way to class, I stopped to pick up a primrose plant...three stores later, I was still being told that they had all died.  And so I ended up with one of those fairly nondescript bouquets that is a mix of lovely separates with no particular theme.  Attempts to put this bunch in any vase at the art center created a leaning, skinny bouquet with no rhythm.    Considering all of my options, I chose to paint each of the kinds separately on a flat two-dimensional, tile-like plane.

No stems.

A Glimpse

Doe, A Dear

This work began as reference photo shot deep within the woods.  The animal was barely visible, his own self-protective camouflage coloring working as it should.  The background was, of course, filled with texture....leaves, leaves, branches and leaves.  What I have done here is, in my own opinion, to create a better painting than what was provided by my reference.  I know what I like....and any attempt to alter it has been discarded, repainted, and, perhaps, discarded again.  I have absolutely no interest in painting hyper-realism.  (I am probably unable to do it anyways). 

In looking at the work, and trying to understand a few of the major decisions that made this work personal, I found:

- The value of the deep woods in the background was maintained, while eliminating the texture. 

- Some shapes were simplified and made two-dimensional, to further simplify

- the largest major shape (deer torso) has been broken into, primarily because I wanted more interest     in the face and head

- and, as always, values were slightly pushed to a blackish-violet in some areas to further rhythmic        viewing and focal point description

These decisions were made intuitively....it is only when finished, that I try to understand why things happened as they did.

Although my final work reveals more than just a glimpse, I am happier.