Rick Janson Art Studio

I’m probably pigeon-holed as a landscape painter. But in the past two years I have made an effort to stray outside my comfort zone by taking on some new genres, or at the very least to explore genres I haven’t visited in a long time (eg. portraiture). I calculated it would aid the effort to improve my overall painting. Flowers, huh? Never been there before.

This started with my sister posting on FB a photo of some flowers she had placed in a glass vase. My initial thought was this may be easy to do. I liked the way the light refracted through the glass as well as the shadow it threw on the other side. If something is slightly off, who is going to notice? It’s not like a likeness was important. I calculated there was some leeway here.

Looking at true flower painters I noticed how they manage to capture the delicacy of petals as well as the texture. Also the way they transition colour is often masterful. They often paint on much larger canvases too. Hmmm… there may be a reason for that.

As you may have already surmised, that’s not really my jam.

This was really hard. Matching the true colours was not easy — dammit, red flowers? I don’t think I ever got that right. I was tempted at one point to go look for some fluorescent oils as I couldn’t mix what my eye was seeing. Having them sit in space — super hard. To convey volume? Ugh. Delicacy? My painting makes the petals look like they are made out of plasticine.

Having said all that, my little painting remains a fun bit of messing around. As Neil Young once said when accused of singing a bit flat — “that’s my style.”

My inclination is to try this again, perhaps from my own flowers, where I can take time to light them in a way that helps defines the shapes in the way I want them. And for heaven’s sake — no reds next time!

Rushing around today getting ready a painting for a competition tomorrow.

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Want to see more pictures without all this writing stuff? Check out my gallery page. If you are on a computer the link is at the top of the page. If you are on your phone it is at the bottom of the page, or you could simply click here.