Flowers and Fechin by Roxanne Steed

8"x6" oil on linen mounted on archival panel

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By the time mid-winter sets in, I am snow weary.  I'm getting antsy to be outside, but either it's too cold, or as in yesterday's case, it was possibly warm enough, but there was no place for me to park in my usual painting spots without risk of getting my little car hung up on an ice berm. (and doing some permanent damage!).  By the time I got to the 4th place of looking yesterday, I did find a place to park in a safe place, where I could actually walk out to a safe place to paint, without falling into a deep drift of snow....I was tired, hungry, and seeking 'facilities'. Yes, I shot the whole morning looking for a 'place' outside to paint. By the time I got home, my husband had delivered flowers for Valentine's day! - Yay!!! Some wonderful painting material and beautiful colors to cheer up a dreary winter case of 'ice-blues'.  

Painting ...and learning to paint, is all cumulative. You spend years learning, experimenting, combining some techinques, eliminating others.  All of it eventually comes into play at any given time to make up you 'the artist'.  I have been toying with combining several different techniques that I have employed over the years, using both brush and knife, laying some thick & thin areas with transparent oils in the darkest areas, topped with ever lighter layers.  Thanks to my hubby for the wonderful flowers. I usually never stack things on my art books in my studio, but I had placed this bouquet on top of my Nicolai Fechin book (that was on top of the large Edgar Payne book).  So of course I decided to paint them this way as well!  I hope these flowers last, I think I might spend the next several days painting more bouquets!

Refresh, Renew, & Simplify - Floral Bouquet by Roxanne Steed

6"x6" oil on archival panel

“Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature.”

Thomas Kempis

I finished painting this last week before I left for VA to give a demo/presentation at London Square Gallery (more about that in the next post).

This was a rather large bouquet, one that I normally would paint at least 12"x12". I wanted to use this as an exercise to simplify this down to fit a 6"x6" panel. To do so would mean I'd have to really observe the big shapes/ keep it at it's simplest form...details only if there was space to indicate it. I'm rather happy with how this fit down into this size. Of course, larger would allow for more details in the flowers, etc.

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Peer Pressure by Roxanne Steed

6"x6" oil on archival panel

"The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself."

-Rita Mae Brown

My daughters always scold me about laughing at my own jokes. Wednesday morning it was pouring outside, so I set up a still life that I'd been wanting to paint ever since I put the idea into my sketch book umm, maybe a month ago! "Peer Pressure" just reminded me of the things people do when they are egged on by others, whether it's a good idea or not. I had just finished the painting & called my husband in to have a look. So the big guy comes to stand before the painting and the set-up when, kerplunk, the little chunk of orange and spoon go rolling off of the cup. "He did it!" spouts my husband......and how could I help but laugh! Visit my blog for purchase information.