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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Lavender


Lavender Bunch 5x7" Oil on canvas

SOLD

I love lavender - and my garden has a good crop of it this year. This painting is a small bunch of freshly picked lavender. I wish I could have portrayed the smell somehow!

This turned out to be a difficult painting. First, getting the composition right (or closer to right) was tricky. Then painting the lavender and its shadows and its foliage... even the bow, got to be frustrating. Here is the outcome.

I have learned over the years, and had to hold onto this knowledge thru this painting: All paintings (almost) go through an "awkward adolescence"... where it looks all wrong, it isn't coming together, you feel like throwing your hands in the air and walking away! But, if you stay with it ... keep working with it... there is usually a good resolution. But - there is also a magic moment of knowing where to stop and let it just be! Well - all that philosophy led me right here with this one. I think its done and ready to just be... although its still a little hard to say!


4 comments:

Debra J.Sepos said...

Very nice, so glad your made the shadows colorful. You picked a very difficult angle, but it works.
Debbie

Maria Catalina Wiley said...

Very pretty, Helen. I like your analogy to adolescence :) I feel that often with my paintings,sometimes it's best to leave them for a while & come back with fresh eyes. I LOVE lavender too!
Maria from Biloela

Cindy Garber Iverson said...

I so appreciate your thoughts on the painting process--so true, so true! The lavender you've painted is so amazing that I CAN almost smell it! It brings to mind so many wonderful images. Cindy at Rosehaven Cottage

Helen Read said...

Thanks so much for your encouraging comments on this one! - Helen.

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