Monday, October 5, 2015

Grace

Grace, 11x14" oil, Diane Mannion

Magic Trick

When petals fall... it's time to stop working on a painting!  But the dropped petals helped with the composition.  Added the branch on the left and the single petal on the right as an after-thought and I'm happiest with these details which I found easiest to paint.  

Sometimes the most impressive parts of a painting are the easiest to paint.  Brushwork, color, values, rendering, edges, composition, all need to work together.  These are the most difficult but necessary concepts to orchestrate in order to achieve atmosphere and the illusion of space.  Painting's a graceful magic trick that fools the eye.  But beauty's in the eye of the beholder, depending on their aesthetic taste of course!

I'm thankful these flowers held together long enough to paint from life. 

2 comments:

juliefordoliver.blogspot.com said...

This is gorgeous and my appreciation of your skill is huge.
Love your glass jug. pretty amazing.

Diane Mannion said...

Wow! Thank you so much, Julie Ford Oliver. A compliment from you is always an honor. Glass is, in a weird way... easy. If you're standing in front of it, it changes with every movement of your head. That means you can get away with a lot! It's easier, but boring to work from a photo of glass that never changes. So I guess the joy of painting from life is how much you can get away with, plus it's a lot more fun.