Sunday, May 25, 2008

Cordyline - Steady as She Goes, Maybe...


I realized I needed a good strong, dark green for some of the background so I picked up a Perylene Green (DS) and a Shadow Green (Holbein) and used those with a bit of Ultramarine Turquoise here and there. For the branches showing I just used a reddish brown I had on my palette - not sure what color it is but maybe a English Red Earth or something like that. By painting the background down from the top I got a bit of a bleed through onto the petals at the top but I can clean them up when it's dried and I'm ready to start the petals. The main thing is to keep the top petals pale and not lose the light shining through.


I'm still thinking - and I hope I'm thinking enough and in the right way to make this one a success. (Oh, and this is on 1/2 sheet Arches 140# coldpress paper.)

When I got to painting the leaves, I realized I'd "lost" some of them by covering over the drawing of them with the background! Oh, well, so it's different than the photo. I guess that's not necessarily a bad thing...but it shows me I got too rushed with the background at times and wasn't thinking and planning as much as I thought I was :(

4 comments:

Sandy Maudlin said...

This looks like a great Rhonda start. Keep going.

Sandpiper (Lin) said...

Hi, I've stopped by a few times and decided to say hello this time. :) I really like your blog. Your artwork is wonderful. It's fun to watch the progression, too. It's nice to meet you.
Lin

Dawn said...

well Sandy says it looks good so I will add my I do too!

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks so much, Sandy and Dawn, for your comments on this one. Hi, Lin! I love seeing your blog and wish I had more time to visit - it's like a meditation each time I come over for a while. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I know there are thousands of blogs out there to catch one's eye so I'm always glad when someone new stops by.