Heliconias

The Heliconia has an interesting story. We went to Hawaii for vacation and I fell in love with this flower. I am not usually a flower guy but I just love the way it grows and all the different colors combinations it grows in. So I filled our camera with reference shots and could not wait to get to painting one. I loved it so much I had to create two different versions.

The composition of the piece is a slight departure from my standard way of creating art. I generally focus solely on the foreground in my art as you can probably tell. I have always had a problem with backgrounds (more like I never plan or think much about them until I notice I need one.) So I decided I would create the back ground first. Fresh from Hawaii and inspired to revisit my graphic style of art I came up with the background pattern you see. I cannot remember if I ever spent that much time composing a background before. I also don't think I ever created a background that could possibly be a piece all on its own. After I had a background Idea I was happy with I incorporated the flower. In the sketch the background was mathematical. Once I put both the flower and the background together on the paper there was a lot of adjusting of lines and shapes to make both elements work. Flowers are really great for eliminating ugly tangents.

The painting of these pieces was also a departure from my norm. I recently came across a show called art to art http://art2art.us/ on public television. The show has changed my artistic life by releasing me from the "proper way to paint watercolors". I have been chained to the watercolor canon that you must work in layers and washes and build up to you darks. It just so happens that I don't think that way very well. I would inevitability just put down some darks so I could see where I was heading. Once I got to that point in my art I was now fighting the "rules" and my nature which made me tense and led to many errors and incomplete pieces. One of the hosts Joyce Faulknor (one of my new heroes) works from Dark to light and the other host Guy Magallanes works from light to dark. One episode was all it took for me to break free from my shackles and love to paint once again.

Liberated, I decided I would use some other techniques I have always wanted to use but never had a reason to do so. Not wanted to cram too many new things in one piece I chose to create two at the same time. I also dislike the practice of test swatches. I never know if something will work until I try it in a real piece anyway so why bother. Now if this was a paid commission and I was under time constraints I would never use a technique I was not confident in.

I guess I should mention that they are 22x30 on arches 300lb cold press paper.

All in all I am happy they turned out pretty much just how I wanted them to but the white stripes are a little indulgent and probably not needed. Oh well live and learn.

Oh yeah I forgot, I finally got to you my ruling pen. I love that tool

I really need a tripod for my camera and probably a beeter set up for photos.