27.7.09

First oil painting - untitled floral

I started this oil painting last year. I've painted in watercolours for years but this is my first attempt at oils. It is taking some time to get used to the reversal in process and I must admit to being a little intimidated by the medium, the fat over lean and all. :o I hope you don't mind if I step out the process. I am as much interested in comments and ideas about the way to approach oil painting as in the finished product at this stage.

I started with this photo:



Did quite a bit of work in photoshop to begin with. Cropped the image, changed the colour balance and made selective changes to the tones to achieve the look I was after as guidance for painting. You'll see as I start painting that the colours I was after were more apricot with reds and soft greens and lemons. I'm working on a very small canvas - 25cm square (about 10 inches). It may not be ideal but I was a bit frightened about tackling a large blank space.

I primed the canvas with AS acrylic gesso and sanded it back in a few layers to smooth it off a bit. I then tinted it with Indian Yellow for an overall golden glow.




Then I sketched in the flower and started blocking in with some thin washes. Ummm - can't remember what this colour was. An umber perhaps.

Now I started on the grisaille underpainting. I'm using burnt umber and titanium white. All my paints are Blockx. I'll expand them to include some Old Hollands eventually. I'm using some wax medium and odourless solvent. I love the feel of wax medium.
beginning the underpainting
Well, by now I think I have finished the underpainting. I've got the modelling about right and softened edges where I need to. I'm still a bit unsure about how much of the detail I should include in the underpainting?? There are still some golden areas from the tinted canvas showing through. It looks a bit messy in places, but I'm trying not to obsess too much about the tiny things because I have a tendency to overwork.

I then waited many, many months for it to dry. Well, actually I was very nervous and unsure about the next stages. So I procrastinated beyond belief....for about 8 months :eek: . Started some glazes of oranges, yellows, peach and apricots. I don't really like pink (silly I know!) so I've decided against a pink colour overall - it's getting further and further away from the original reference.



That was about two weeks ago - since then I have added more glazes to the dark areas and more highlights. I still have a lot of the petals around the back to complete and may add some even brighter areas to where the sun is hitting the petals. Excuse my latest photo - it's a little blurry (too dark when I took this pic inside in the late afternoon).



Comments and criticism welcome. I will post a final image when the painting is complete.