Monday, April 27, 2015

REVIEWS OF PAINTINGS PAST: HYDRANGEAS

What do you paint?  Skies, landscapes, birds, still lifes, portraits?  I think I paint a lot of birds (and crows) and macro flowers.  Every once in a while I try portraits but never stick to it long enough to feel comfortable about painting portraits - they are either hit or miss. 

But I do like flowers...











































And I do seem to have a preference for blues and violets in my flower paintings.

There is something soothing to paint using these colors, and I have a lot of photo references of these hydrangeas (although I can't grow them, I can get photos of them from neighbors' yards).



So when I'm not painting birds, I'm painting hydrangeas!  Guess I've found my niche.  And to paraphrase Will Rogers, "I've never painted a hydrangea I didn't like." 

But right now I think I'll try some skies - lots of stormy, cloudy, pretty skies lately around here as spring is just teasing us one day with warmth and sun and then rain and storms making good clouds (and cooling down) the next day.  Time to get out the 140# rough and do something...

12 comments:

Sadami said...

Wow, Rhonda, all soooooo beautiful and feminine!!!
Best wishes, Sadami

Unknown said...

Love your paintings of the flowers! You captured the details of them very nicely :)
I can't do that, and also not portrait :)
Today my carrots come with leaves ;)

Have a wonderful week!
Tinna ✐

Judith Farnworth Art said...

I love hydrangeas too and have several bushes in my garden...we only had blue ones and I wanted pink, then someone bought me another blue which within a year turned pink and another bush which we have had for over 30 years is also turning pink. The other we have is still a bright turquoise blue so very odd that the soil seems to have changed in some part of the garden, not in others? Love your paintings btw!!

Carol Flatt said...

Your hydrangeas are breath-taking be they close up or farther away. They are not an easy flower to paint, (so many parts close together) but you certainly have managed to master them. Well done, Rhonda, and I can't wait to see your skies!

Gary L. Everest said...

Good Morning Rhonda,
Hope you're having a good day. Just wanted to unabashedly tell you that I think your hydrangeas are my favorites and your finest work.
Simply beautiful in composition and color. You could probably make a nice living selling this collection as giclee prints, offered in a variety of sizes.
Have a good day!
Sincerely,
Gary

Autumn Leaves said...

I especially love that last painting, Rhonda, and yes, you do have amazing success with the hydrangeas (one of my top two favorite flowers). They are gorgeous paintings!! I'm looking forward to the skies!

E.M. Corsa said...

I have no interest in painting flowers myself but I so love your hydrangeas. Perhaps I fear I can't do them justice as you do.
Can't wait to see your skies!

AK said...

Each one of these is fabulous. I think painting flowers is therapeutic. Great work.

RH Carpenter said...

Thank you all so much for commenting on these paintings - some I still have, some are sold :) and several have been in juried shows. I do enjoy playing with the colors in these...
Thanks, Sadami, Tinna, Judith (I've heard the acidity in the ground can change the colors), Carol, Gary (you make me blush with your praise of these), Sherry, EM, and Asit (yes, it is therapeutic to paint these blue and violet flowers and petals).

debwardart said...

You know I love these - MORE PLEASE!!!

RH Carpenter said...

I know these are you favorites, Deb, but I haven't done any new ones in a while - I did go through some photos and came up with a couple more possibilities for future paintings :) I'll do them soon.

http://carolking.wordpress.com said...

You never painted a hydrangea that I didn't like. You are a pro at these and they are all beautiful!