“Freesias in a blue vase.”
It is something about flowers. They are beautiful and fragile and some of them only last for few days. And some of them are beautifully scented, bringing joy to all of your senses. Every time I see flowers I want to paint them, although this is not always possible. I’ve had a tiring week at work, so towards the end of the week I managed to indulge in painting. I managed to do an outdoor painting on the Saturday afternoon, painting on a lane with a beautiful field of Red Campions.
For the weekly painting I’ve chosen to do a (yet another) still life. I did my usual set up for sight size still life, and I used a blue vase, which I believe I have used before, with some freesias and few blue bells; the blue bells started dying before I finished the painting.
I tried to paint it alla prima, but I haven’t completely succeeded. I did the drawing in brush, using italian cassel and some white, then I did a tonal underpainting, using the same colours.
I completed the painting, next day (evening) in one session. I used a reduced palette as I started to do lately and no medium, just turps.
I am still using the powerful lighting unit with barn doors to obtain the effects of light and the strong shadows, though I am looking into getting a dimmer to be able to adjust the light better; sometimes I think the light is to bright.
So, anyway, here it is:
“Freesias in a blue vase.”
Oil on linen.
24 X 30cm (10” X 12”).
