three flowers, start to finish

It's definitely all about the process.

I started out with a 4x6 canvas and a quick wash of acrylic paint in a shade of fuchsia I love.  I usually cover the whole surface so no white shows - why would I not do that?  I just wasn't feeling it today.

I have a box full of collage elements - including many pieces of scrapbook paper that I cut into circles a few months ago.  I considered using one - I like the contrast between bold pink and a black and white pattern, but the size seemed all wrong.  I moved on.

I added brush swipes of bright yellow, and a border of tissue paper and painted coffee filters.  Notice that I am now making a habit of putting a coffee filter under my projects.  Why should my newspaper-covered table get all of the leftover paint and brushstrokes?

In fact, a coffee filter that had just been used earlier today became material for the flowers in this painting.  I love those colors!!!  At this point, I think I decided that I didn't want to use any green.

I positioned three circles for flowers, and several drops as accents.

I glued the shapes down with mod podge, leaving space open for the stems.

I found a painted index card in my box of collage elements, and cut the stems.  If you've been reading this blog for a while, maybe you remember that I use remaining paint in my palette on index cards - this has been useful for all kinds of projects.



I like the colors in this stage of the project so much!  I wish it felt finished at this point, but it didn't.  I have yet to reach a comfort level with minimalism.  Would this even be minimalism?  Probably not.

Instead, I added tiny coffee filter dots and flower centers.

Then, I drew all over it with a white gel pen, and lightened up the background with a light turquoise color, to help the stems stand out. 

After feeling like my flowers had too much white, I added fuchsia into the largest flower with a tiny paintbrush.  And then, around two hours later (three full half hour cooking shows and parts of two others, probably) I added a few more white dots and called it finished.

This particular piece isn't perfection, but it's incredibly fun.