Sunday, October 25, 2015

COOKED GREENS



Well, I worked on some value changes (getting darks here and there and more pop to the painting).  I still don't care for this, even though I cropped off the busy left side that did nothing for the painting.  

Sometimes you win...sometimes a dog is still a dog!  Maybe I still have problems with greens?



So put this aside and began on a water lily painting from a photo Sweetie took.  I wanted it to be soft, serene, pale...



But I'm in a rut of mistakes and overworking, it seems. 

I ruined this one so badly I just tore it to pieces and it went in the round bin for all time.


And I began again...with a single flower...on a smaller sheet of paper...






10 comments:

Linda said...

Hello Rhonda, warm greetings from Montreal, Canada. I found you via Debbie Nolan's blog, who shared a link here from her blog. These are just gorgeous, I admire your talent! :)

Jennifer Rose said...

sometimes things just don't work :(

hopefully the single flower is working out better for you

Gary L. Everest said...

Hi Rhonda,
Sorry the water lily didn't work out, but I really like the star of this post. I will admit to expecting a bit more contrast, but it's not like you can just lighten the background. Darn that watercolor. No way it's a "dog", but that's just my always humble opinion.
Enjoy the coming week.
Sincerely,
Gary.

Cathy Gatland said...

Oh, I have so many dog paintings... but I love the strong positive and negative shapes in both of these Rhonda - can't really see the overworking on the screen. Hope the new one escapes the round bin!

Caroline Simmill said...

Maybe you just need a break from the flowers for a while Rhonda. You did all that impressive work on the flowers recently and did a lot of work. It could be you need to paint something different like your birds.

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks so much, Linda, for taking the time to stop by and comment :) Have a wonderful week!

Jennifer Rose, I fear I am in failure mode!

You're too kind, Gary - maybe since it is a dog and I seem to have a kennel full of them right now, I need to just go crazy with paint and see what happens!!

Cathy, thanks. I will work through this...but for now I guess I should be learning from these mistakes?!?

Caroline, you may be right - flowers flowers plants and more plants...time to move on to something else or just play for a while?

Jeanette Jobson said...

What doesn't work at the time sometimes needs setting aside and returning to at a later date. Its easy to overwork colour in any medium, so I try for the one stroke rule: Put down a single stroke, leave it alone, then add another stroke, not mixing or patting the strokes together. It doesn't always work, but will help ensure that colour remain saturated and vibrant.

Deborah Nolan said...

Rhonda I like it but I am not the one with the vision. I have so many paintings I don't care for because they don't fulfill my vision . Bet if you set this aside you will look at it with fresh eyes. Thank you for sharing your art and your thoughts too.

laura said...

I love your greens, Rhonda--fresh and bold. The shapes are very pleasing to me.
At least your doing it--getting the paint wet! There are bound to be some (many?) that don't "work" for one reason or another, just as we sometimes get those ones that do work, brilliantly, also for some reason or another.
(I have not even been trying this year, and not cruising the blogs either, because I feel so bad about it: this week making steps to rebound ... so look for many failures to come!)

RH Carpenter said...

Jeanette, you're right - put it aside and let it brew for a while, I might like it more later or...can always use the back for scrap paper :)

Debbie, thanks; and you're right, what we "see" in our minds sometimes isn't what comes out on paper but it doesn't mean it's a bad painting (or maybe it is??) ha ha

Thanks, Laura. I'm so happy to hear from you - hope you are getting back into the swing and you'll soon be doing well again, I know - you have a natural touch with watercolors (although you don't believe that, you have plenty of viewers who will tell you it's true!)