Woohoo! It's Finally Finished!!!
3:02 PM
Strangers Among Us?
Detail from Original Watercolor Painting
by Laure Ferlita, © 2009 All RIghts Reserved
This painting has been ever so patiently sitting in my studio for nearly 8 months waiting for me to finish it! It is nearly unheard of for me to go back to a painting once I've abandoned it. It just doesn't usually work out well. For one thing, being the goofus that I tend to be, I totally did NOT write down any of the pigments I used in this. I had one of the white pumpkins nearly finished and they other (which you can see in the post below) was nearly untouched. This is the one area where it would show the most if I didn't use the same/right colors. So, there's the first lesson - do a chart of the colors I use in a painting.
The other thing I've learned - again - from this painting in particular is not to get into the details too soon. Recently, I've been trying a new approach to my painting and that is to paint standing up so that it makes it difficult to paint the details in the first place. This allows me to get the shapes in first, then go back and add as little detail as possible to get my message across. I've also been finding that it sometimes (usually) helps to limit the amount of detail in an image, and being the detail-hound that I am, I want to put it ALL in!
The last thing I've learned is to be BOLD on the first brushstroke to the last - even if it's wrong. Get in, get it down (right preferably) and get out! I was rather timid with the color on this and I lost track of all the layers it took to build up the depth and heft of those pumpkins - especially on those white pumpkins. But I can tell you this, when I painted the second white pumpkin, it didn't take me nearly as long as it did on the first one. I had to do some fudging to get my colors to align on both white pumpkins, but it worked.
Being timid nearly cost me this painting. It simply took too long and I got over it looooooong before I finished the painting! Not optimal, but I'm learning! Every single time I put that brush to the paper, I'm learning and that makes me happy!!
15 Creative Thought(s)
your watercolors are very precise and you really seem to know what you are doing. you must be very patient in order to get every detail right, and you do :) beautiful painting! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind comments! I used to be a lot more patient but recently I have been more focused on the "essence" of the subject rather than the detail. It's a journey. It will be interesting to see where it takes me!
ReplyDelete...your paintbrush seems magic to me. One day the painting is unfinished, the next day it's gorgeous. I also like reading about your progress...watching how you are constantly learning from your own trial-and-error process. It's always interesting.
ReplyDeleteLove everything about it but the title is so wonderful for painting. Great compostion and colors.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kelly, I wish it were magic! It's not. It's a determination to complete something and that requires I keep my butt in the studio until it's done!
ReplyDeleteTeri, you're sharp! This painting comes about as close as I ever think I will with regard to political statements. I was so turned off last year during the presidential race with regard to all the derogative comments being made about a person's gender, upbringing, skin color, etc. that this is my answer. Are we really so different from each other OR are we really all the same on the inside?
It's lovely but I like the freshness of the unfinished one, too!
ReplyDelete"Get in, get it down and get out!"
ReplyDeleteLeaving fear out of the game has done you justice. Great painting!
Love the underlying statement and all that it symbolises. Well done!
Thanks, ANdrea, I definitely lost some of the freshness. That's why I want to get better at "Get in, get it down and get out".
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sheona, I hadn't thought of it terms of fear, but you're exactly right! Fear has no place in it.
Lots of prismatic color in your shadows! I especially like the cast shadow on the last sliver of a pumpkin on the right. Isn't it great to have revelations during and after your painting to use for the next one? Congratulations on picking up a dead painting and finishing it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Krista!
ReplyDeleteLike the colours. It amazes me how you can keep you watercolours looking so fresh. And the overlapping of the pumpkins and shadows carry you eye across the painting. It is lovely how the light just seems to dance on each one.
ReplyDeleteLaure,
ReplyDeleteThis is simply gorgeous! I love the shadows and the highlights on your pumpkins. The title is a stroke of genius ; ). Thanks, too, for always sharing your progress "notes." What a help they are to us novices!
Thank you, Kim, and Kathy, it always helps to get another perspective and you all have certainly challenged mine on this particular painting.
ReplyDeleteKathy, glad to know the notes help! Hopefully, it will help me stop being such a goofus too!
Laure, it's gorgeous! Your pumpkins simply glow and the colors are yummy! Love it, love it!
ReplyDeleteRe: not keeping track of your palette on a particular painting... guilty! I keep meaning to do that but somehow once I get a color down everything else goes out of my mind and I just happily glide along!
Tried to comment on your blog this past Friday (when I had access to high speed internet) but for some reason I couldn't get the comment box to open. Had the same problem on a couple of other blogs I wasn't able to comment on - so I'm back to catching up on s--l--o--w dial up!
I absolutely love this picture. The colours are subtle and I particularly like the shadows. It could go on my wall any day!
ReplyDeleteLet's talk!