Seeing Red

This fifth painting in my "Flower Feast" series is the most involved composition and the brightest color scheme.  The purple background was a daring choice and I may go back in and tone it down a little but overall I am attracted to the colors here.  Sometimes placing a piece up on the screen enables you to see it more clearly then when it's right in front of you.  Looking at it right now as I type, I can see spots that need more of an accent while other spots need to sit back a little.

"Island Fancies"

Watercolor, 12" x 18"

© Carmella Tuliszewski

One of the things that holds this together are those little light green leaves.  Having just the slightest touch of a red outline unifies the overall composition.  The reds are all over the color spectrum from hot pinks to slightly subdued oranges.  Very fun to work with especially when combined with red's complement, green.

Well one more to go in this series.  Then what?  More on that later.

Now that I have a nice little bank of paintings, it's time to look beyond each individual piece and toward how they fit together to truly be called a series.  

Prepping a Picture

I am now back to my research from this year's Philadelphia Flower Show.  The theme was Hawaii which gave me the opportunity to photograph florals not easily found around here.  This will also become part of my Flower Feast Series I.  

Here's my next painting, composed, drawn and ready to go.  As you can see I use a few reference points.  My ipad for streaming to the large computer screen, great for true color and zooming in for details.  Also notice the black and white copies.  As I mentioned in the last post, a picture often is more about the values than the color.  However, it can be difficult to determine correct values when the color is so absorbing.  As an artist it is my job to separate these two elements of art and then put them seamlessly (I hope) back together.  So I keep black and white scans next to the painting as I work.

You will recognize the Bird of Paradise flowers and the others are Hawiian Ginger plants.

Beautiful complementary colors of reds and greens on this one that I am very excited to start painting.

Well, I'm off for my second cup of coffee and back to a fun day of painting and music.  

My new favorite is the Disney station on Pandora Radio.  Yes, Disney, Little Mermaid and Belle just make my day! 

Sparkling Petunias

I found the research for these petunias in, of all places, Atlantic City.  While shopping with my daugther at all their great outlet sotres, I noticed many beautiful pots along the street just packed with flowers.  I snapped away ( I always have my camera) and this painting is from a composit drawing.

"Sparkle"

from "The Flower Feast" series

Watercolor,  12" x 18"

© Carmella Tuliszewski

I'm always attracted to subjects that glisten in the sun.  But that's because I love to paint the shadows.

These shadows are filled with Thalo Purple, Vermilion hue and Permanent Rose with a splash here and there of Hookers Green because complements make the best shadows.  Since greens are not staining colors they are easily picked up and thats how I add the veins.  Run a thin brush with a little water  along the line you wish and a quick pick up with a tissue does the trick.  

But this, as with most of my paintings,  is more about value than color.  I always keep a black and white copy with me while I paint.  It makes it easier to see the darks and lights.

It's great to get back to work after a very busy end of summer.  

Little Legends

The following paintings are examples completed many years ago.  When my children were little I did some freelancing while they were napping or in school.  One of my projects included painting portraits of little girls as princesses in this series I called Little Legends.  I advertized in local papers (wasn't on the internet then) and in school and church news letters.

And the orders actually started coming in, I was so excited.  I worked out each illustration, transferred the line drawing and painted, adding the face from a photo sent of each girl.  The problem came with the repetitive nature of the series.  Painting these illustrations over and over again became too boring.  And reproducing full color illustrations was just not workable.  So I closed up shop on this endevor and went on to something else.  But the great thing I did get out of it was these paintings of my then six year old daughter in princess mode.  She was a great little model!

Each painting below measures 12' x 12" in Acrylic

© Carmella Tuliszewski

Entwined

I have not painted roses since my Hallmark days. So my start on this was slightly hesitant but hopeful.
I loved the combination of the hard grapevine reeds and the ultra softness of the flowers. The coloring on yellow roses is tricky because the shadows are everywhere from golden yellows to olive greens.

I worked out the shadows with a lot of glazing and scrubbing out for highlights.  And the pragmatic painted that I am, I will admit to a touch of white for the highlights on the grapvine.  

"Entwined"

from the Flower Feast Series

Watercolor,  12" x 18"

©Carmella Tuliszewski

I'm pretty happy with the way this series is coming together.  I hope they will make beautiful prints and notecards that people might like to buy.  As much as I absolutely love painting flowers, I will take a break for the next work because I have a really interesting still life set up ready to go. 

A really good and productive summer so far!

Shaping a Series

You may remember the beginning of this Bromeliad a week or so ago.  I began with a detailed drawing, laying in areas where the light changes on the flower.

The colors on this very sculptural flower are stunning.  Laying in the base colors required a wet in wet technique, which I don't often do, and forgot how much fun it is.  It took a repeated build up of this method to bring out the rich layed look of the plant.

There are many varities of Bromeliad but I had never seen one like this.  When I walked past it in the flower show it caught my eye, what a beauty.  The glazing came after the colors were established with the shadows a build up of greens, purples, blues and reds.  This will go up on my board but, as always, I will touch up areas here and there every once in a while.  This is the second in my "Pua Lu'au" series.

So two complete makes it an offical series.  I am planning six paintings all together.  They are a standard size to make framing less expensive when I sell them or enter them in shows.

I have decided to title it "Promenade" as a slight play on it's name and because the species is so showy as to beg your attention.

"Promenade"

from the series "Pua Lu'au"

Watercolor,  12"x 18"

© Carmella Tuliszewski

Color Collections

It has been very hot here in the east and since I kind of melt in this weather, I have been inside for three days now.  I do sneak out during the hours of 6 and 8 AM to water gardens and run to the food store, but otherwise I am very happy and grateful to be inside in AC.  So after working on a project around the house or taking some chicken out of the freezer for dinner, you can find me at my little drafting table.  I've started the next in the "Pua Lu'au" series paintings.  I haven't thought of a title yet but first things first.

© Carmella Tuliszewski

The colors in this are really an impressive show of nature.  I just hope my coloring skills are up to the task, which brings me to taking stock of my paints.  I wrote in an earlier post about how I like to make charts as an inventory of my colors.  Well, I picked up a few more tubes lately and thought it was time they joined the fun.  Is there anything better than meandering down an aisle of nothing but paint tubes- I think not!

My desk right now with my new charts.  I don't want to give the impression that I work like a robot matching colors for each section of a painting but it does help tremendously in those first washes and glazes.  It also is a reminder of the colors I actually have, because, as you can see, they do all start to 

pile up.  And having the charts is quite freeing once I start painting.  The products I prefer are Winsor & Newton and Grumbacher and, of couse, Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper.

This little book is a valuable resource which I keep handy as I work.
If you are new to color blending or a long time pro, it's very helpful.
Every artist has their own way of working and this is one of mine.
At some point in each work experience and instinct takes over but, for me, starting out with some careful planning gets me where I want to be.