If I'm being honest, I would say painting flowers was never on the cards for me as an artist. While studying art as a young man, I would have happily bet a million dollars I would never paint flowers. I viewed it as a subject matter that was not considered Art for Art sake. The only exception I ever saw to this was if the flower was part of some abstract art form.
As it turns out, floral compositions are as abstract as they come. So many negative and positive spaces, extreme changes in contrast, and changing colors flowing in all directions. So I welcomed this challenge my daughter put to me in turning my hand to painting some modern and organic floral paintings. Prior to this, a few months ago, I painted one flower on an 8 x 8" canvas first which was fun to do. I then received six photographs from the talented Sarah Winward of her floral work to interpret into artistic paintings. As I said, it really was something I never considered but I could have never imagined the result and it turned out to be quite a learning experience. I like that! After all, that's what life is all about, trying something new and different. Seeing things in a different light. Some may say this comes with age, but I have come to realize now that flowers can be as complicated to paint as anything I have ever experienced. It all depends on the approach and the end results you require. I hope you enjoy my first attempt at painting florals as much as I did. You can see more on the collection here and the resulting new smart phone cases and fine art Giclée prints are available in the shop here.
Until next week!