Contemporary Still Life - Untitled - by Kay Wyne

Untitled

40" x 30" Oil on Heavy Duty Gallery Wrap Canvas

Contemporary Abstract Floral Still Life

This is Day #11 in the 30/30 Paint Challenge.  This painting has been on my easel for a couple of weeks, and I can now say that it is completed - I think.  I will look at it and probably have my art friends critique it.  I need to put a name on it...so if you have any suggestions, feel free to email me your suggestions!  

As I was painting, I took some picture along the way...it is always good to go back and look at the stages of the painting.  Here you can see I took magenta and indian yellow and scrubbed in color, covering all of the canvas.  Nothing like going bold on the color!

At this point, I did not know what I was going to do.  I have a habit of immediately starting a new canvas with paint left over from my last painting.  

I have been on a floral still life kick, and looked at this canvas thinking it would be a very strong composition if I filled the 40" x 30" canvas with a mixed bouquet of flowers.  We had a nice arrangement in the studio, so that was my starting point.  Here I loosely placed the arrangement on the canvas-drawing with a large filbert and paint.

I wasn't sure what I was doing with the vase at this point, and did some painting upside down.  It is always good to look at the painting backwards on the computer or upside down.  I was happy with the placement of the subject matter, so I continued to work on the flowers.  I tried to keep my oils clean.  I wanted the colors to be fresh and vibrant.

I started adding greenery and more layers of paint.  The reflection in the water has breaks in the color.  I  did pull out a small filbert to put in some finishing touches.  I wanted the flowers to overlap and have variety in shapes and sizes. I also wanted my darks very dark and my lights very light for contrast.  I did not use any medium on this painting...the paint is very thick and textured.    

So after debating on adding a piece of fabric on to the background, I decide that would be too much.  So I painted in three small leaves implying that they fell off the arrangement, signed it and now it is drying in the studio.  This painting has a contemporary feel to it, especially with a very thick (2 1/2") deep stretcher bar/canvas.  I painted all the sides, so framing is optional.  It is ready to hang!  Thanks for looking at this blog.  Contact Kay with any comments or questions.  Kay