Rose Study in White

Rose Study in White
Oil on unstretched canvas, 4x6
purchase here

Another overcast day - heavy on the clouds, but no rain - thank goodness!  After teaching a couple of classes, shipping out a painting, and the countless house chores of maintaining a household - I have jumped out to the garden for a quick rose study.  I am really concentrating on the structure of the foliage and petals of the various blooms as they come into their glory.  They can easily become too complicated, so I am striving for some simplicity!  I have started on a white canvas with a stroke of molding paste over it (to take down the tooth a bit).  Next comes the pastel sketch, and then paint application begins.  On this one, I started with the background, cutting in around the rose.  Then, the darks, followed by the whites.  The palette knife was last with just a few strokes of thick highlight for a little pop on this otherwise subtle painting.  This one makes painting number 884 in 884 days.

on location