Contemporary Rose

Today, I want to share with you the progress on my latest painting, “Contemporary Rose.” It’s based off of a photo I took of a rose in my garden last summer. When the first warmth of spring hit, I remembered this photo and wanted to do something very in your face and springy. My palette evokes spring and makes me smile. I can’t wait to share it with you, but you’ll have to wait for another post.

I base coated this before the tornado took out my house. It was sitting on the kitchen counter when the tornado hit, and surprisingly survived when most everything around it was destroyed, so no matter what I had to finish it. At first, dealing with our temporary living arrangement was getting the best of me. I though it was impossible to paint and I know you heard about my frustrations. But when it got to be too much I found a way. So here is my painting so far and I’ll keep you posted on the progress. I may make this into a downloadable painting pattern if there is enough interest. So please comment if you would like to see this in a painting pattern.

The painting is on a 12″x12″ canvas. After my usual canvas prep, I thought I would experiment a little with the new DecoArt Chalky Finishes. This line of paint is suppose to work on any surface, though most people think of chalky paints for furniture or wood pieces. I wondered how it would do on canvas. I painted one coat of Serene, which is a light blue, with a sponge brush. Coverage was great, but it left some brushstroke marks. It only took a light sanding with an ultra-fine sand paper to bring my canvas back to smooth.

Once it was dry, I transferred the outline of the rose to the canvas and painted it a base color of DecoArt Traditions Opaque White. It took two coats to achieve solid coverage. Then I transferred the rest of my pattern. The next step was to set in the values. Sometimes it is easier to create form when color is not a factor. That’s what Grisaille means–to paint form without color. It is painted in different values of gray. I tried to paint my grisaille in grey values but it looked heavy and out of sorts. It could be because I had already introduced color to my background (light blue). So I wiped it off and started over, brush mixing only Opaque White and Blue Grey for a variety of values. This worked so much better. I deliberately did not create all the value changes I intend to have in the finished painting, because the color glazes will further adjust the values.

I’ll seal this in the morning with a mixture of DecoArt Traditions Multi-Surface Sealer and Glazing Medium. Then it is on to the transparent colors. Stay tuned…