Sunday, February 24, 2008

I wasn't able to capture the yellow that these daffodils were screaming at me ... Perhaps it was drowned out by the three men hammering and sawing in the house. One problem, was that I couldn't decide between going alla prima or glazing; my indecisiveness resulted in a little of both, which isn't really working.
Then I just did a few daffodils freehand, just to try working it out ... Will try again tomorrow, when, perhaps, it'll be quieter!
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4 comments:

Mineke Reinders said...

I'm amazed you got any painting done at all, with the hammering and sawing going on. I think I would have hightailed it to the bookstore...

My feeling is that an alla prima approach is better suited to the character of daffodils, but that's just one person's opinion. I love what you did in the freehand study! Those touches of turqoise are a wonderful contrast to the yellows and oranges.

Hope you have a quiet day tomorrow :)

Suzanne McDermott said...

I agree with Mineke that alla prima is the best way though I've never heard of that term applied to watercolors (maybe I don't pay attention to methods).

I sketched some daffodils last week as much to be near the smell as to draw. It wasn't a very complete composition so I went in with some watercolor pencil and found that I used both a cool (for the perianth) and a cadmium yellow for the cup. But mine were all yellow.

It's a challenge to get the intense yellows, transparencies and shadows but with your approach, I think you can do so beautifully.

Sounds like a lot of excitement at your house;. Hope the workmen are pleasant enough and the results are satisfactory.

William Evertson said...

Just wondering - do you always sketch first and then fill in? Your quote by Sargent suggests that traveling the knife edge of emergency is what makes great art. I go back and forth and found I need a 100 images to make one look spontaneous. Love your latest works.

laura said...

I agree with you, Mineke, alla prima works best. For me, anyway, it keeps me from being too "careful" and allows for things to happen on their own.
The watercolor pencil's a good idea, Suzanne. I should get mine out and keep them on my painting table, then maybe I'll think to use them!
I go back and forth too, Bill. And I fall into old, bad habits when I paint a lot by myself ... like "filling in"! I don't always draw first, especially not for figures or flowers, but the problem for me is not so much the restriction of the pencil line as it is the way I touch the brush to the paper: in my "bad" paintings, I paint with the tip and fill in; in good ones, I press the brush down to the ferrule and pull it! (There's a good description of this in one of the Charles Reid books; I'll look it up as soon as I can get to my books--everything covered in drop cloths here!)