DEITES GRANDIFLORA

Deites Grandiflora plant information says this plant is commonly called wood iris, fortnight lily, African iris, Japanese iris or butterfly iris. The blossoms are showy and last just a day, sometimes two. This oil painting took me a lot more than a couple of days to paint.....well, I'm a slow painter.

Anyway, I wanted to paint this striking beauty on a very dark background to accentuate its "splendiferousness". I added a butterfly in complement to its name and to add interest to the painting though I'm not sure about butterflies flying at night lol.

Three is a family

Today out of the blue, I painted this 36x28 cms "ACRYLIC" painting.....and it was 35°C outside. Only a little cooler inside....anyway, what a challenge this was.  Acrylic dries so fast. No time to blend etc... but it was fun and I enjoyed the process. I'm thinking of glasing this little number with oil paint. We'll see..... however I'm so very glad I painted it. Am I  coming out of a dry spell?

Mr Eolophus roseicapilla "Take two"

When is a painting finished? Well, I am not too sure.  It was 7 months ago that I posted Mr Galah and thought this painting was done.....but.....recently I was wondering, what if I change the background again, would it be better? what if I change some of the colours of the fathers? etc.... So, this is just what I did the last couple of days. I'm happy with the results but more importantly I am glad that I had the "fearlessness" to change once again this painting. Now I don't think I will make any change any more 😃.

Mr Eolophus roseicapilla

Quite a while ago, I had wanted to paint a galah. I love those birds. One can see them everywhere around town and I often see and observe them when I go for my daily walks.
First of all, I would like to say a big thank you to Clement Tang from Flikr for allowing me to use his beautiful photograph as a reference for this oil painting. I really appreciate his generosity.
Well, I'm indeed really glad to have finished this painting. I know I would like to paint more birds in the future but for now, I'm unsure if I am going to do this anytime soon. You see, I discovered that painting feathers was not only very difficult but very challenging to say the least. Consequently, I think I will wait for a while before I try to paint them again.
When I started this painting, I wanted it to have a completely dark background. I tried that in the initial painting (see unfinished painting below), but later decided against it. I thought it was best to keep the sky blue like my reference photograph.
I think it is interesting to see the stages of a painting. In fact, after I had partially placed the black background, I changed my mind and ended up painting 3 different skies, all with different hue of blues. Even the galah had very different colours. Now, no one would guess that they are actually still there, under all the layers of oil paint. This is what I really love about the process of painting, one can always change the size, shape and colour of everything.
I am quite pleased with the results of this painting and I wish I could fly!

This is the initial painting with the very dark background. Perhaps I could have proceeded that way but at the time, it did not look or feel right. Anyway, no regrets now.
OK, back to painting....


PS: Thank you again Clement Tang from Flickr for the reference image.

Update long over due

Time is going fast. In the last couple of years, I have been doing lots of  things, especially traveling. I went multiple times to France, went to Indonesia, twice to New-Zealand, to the USA and took several trips in Australia too. Since I am not going to travel for awhile, I have decided to spend more time in my studio and paint. I do not know exactly what I am going to paint but I know now is the time for me to do just that. As I was saying, time goes fast and I do not want to wait tomorrow or next week....I don't want to wait any longer......where are my brushes?

Marie-Anne's portrait

I meant to post this portrait a very long time ago but did not have a picture of it. I don't think this is a good picture but the point is, in my humble opinion, a very good portrait of my best friend Marie-Anne. I did her portrait a long time ago.... I do not remember when that was. Perhaps l0 years ago.....well, she is still gorgeous today as she was then, inside and out.

Photo from Courchevel 1850

I went skiing several times in Courchevel 1850. This year, there was still a lot of snow in April. This place keeps amazing me....I've been going there for the last 45 years and it is always so beautiful, so special....