Tuesday, August 25, 2009

new wip and a botanical artist

WIP untitled, Coloured Pencil on Stonehenge, 5 3/4" x 15"
Copyright Teresa Mallen

Here is my latest work in progress. Peony leaves instead of rose petals! :-) With a width of under 6" and a height of 15", you can get an idea of how I wanted to crop this image tall and narrow. The peony I had photographed was white with one unusual reddish, pink petal and that is what interested me. Of course I got carried away and I have added all sorts of colour to the 'white' petals. I may tone it down by lifting some pigment. I'm not sure yet. I shall wait until I get colour all over the piece before I start making any adjustments.

Gosh, I hadn't intended to take such a long break from blogging but wow, August has just screamed by. I have been rather busy in my spare time so I guess blogging just fell by the wayside. I did some more test driving of vehicles once I returned from Atlanta and I am delighted to have made a purchase. I was out of town last week interviewing real estate agents with my sister (for the selling of our parents' farm) and we also had the property appraised. Of course the weeds are winning the battle but I do try to exert some control over the garden and my veggies are all ready to eat NOW. I wouldn't be surprised to wake one morning to find that I have turned into a giant tomato or zucchini. If things weren't busy enough, we are now painting our house. I mean this literally, no hired folks, just my husband and I wielding paintbrushes and rollers. Our house has wood siding that the previous owners stained a very dark brown colour. It is time to lighten things up. The veranda is already looking very fresh in its new white state. The rest of the house is going to be a yellowish cream. Forget petals on a bit of Stonehenge, our house is the real work in progress!

I mentioned in last post that I was going to chat about the Mock Jury workshop that I attended. I shall save that for the next post (I need to get outside painting!) but I did want to pass on some info for anyone who is interested in botanical art. The September 2009 issue of the Artist's magazine features the work of botanical artist Wendy Hollender. She works in coloured pencil! Woo-hoo. To download two step by step demonstrations by Wendy on drawing and colouring a tulip, click here. I discovered a fresh new twist on botanical art on her website - you can purchase a print of a poster that features hallucinogenic plants! Now that's different. Enjoy surfing the net, I am off to cover up more dark brown wood.

6 comments:

m1 Designs said...

Gosh, your painting is off to a super start. Can't wait to see it finished. Thanks for the link to Wendy Hollender's site. What a great artist she is.

Lynda Schumacher said...

Goodness Teresa, you certainly have alot on your plate right now. DO NOT turn into a zuchini or tomato, as they are unable to effectively weild paint brushes........and it may be more challenging to find lampshades to fit you next year! Look forward to seeing the progression of your lovely piece.

Jennifer Rose said...

really nice start! :D I like when the white petals are various colours, they usually are in real life so making them like that in a drawing makes them look more real.

good luck with the house painting, sometimes it is better to do things like that yourself, rather then deal with workmen who do a half arsed job and leave a mess when they leave.

Teresa Mallen said...

Hi Maria and thanks. After compressing my photo and uploading it, I thought it looked rather dark so I am glad you can see potential in the piece! :-)

Hi Lynda, maybe at the next convention I should dress up in a rented tomato costume and add the lampshade to that! LOL

Hey there Jennifer Rose, yes I think we will do a better job than some painters might and we won't be leaving a mess. Best of all, we are saving lots of money!! :-)

Jan said...

This is going to be lovely as usual. I confess that the photo looked so dark on my monitor that I took it into my graphics program and lightened it enough to see it.

Actually painting a house is the pits although I agree that you'll probably do a much better job than having it done. Hope it goes quickly for you!

Enjoy your veggies - our garden is nearly spent!

Teresa Mallen said...

Hi Jan. Sorry the photo was so dark. It looked fine on my husband's computer screen so I left it alone.

The house painting is coming along well. We are liking the new look a lot so that is motivating us to keep going. :-) I do need to squeeze in a few hours to get some of my ripe veggies in the freezer.