Thursday, April 26, 2007

First Poppy


Better late than never, the first poppies have appeared in our garden.

I've been working on a couple of exercises in the WetCanvas Watercolour Forum. One was to paint a monochrome picture and one with just three primary colours.

These were both done rather quickly for me. The reference for the bag of pears was a lovely photograph from the WetCanvas Library by Karen Boss. I used Burnt Umber.


The poppy is my own photograph of the first in our garden, with help from a demonstration by Adelene fletcher in Joe Francis Dowden's book Watercolour Painting Pure & Simple. The primaries were Aureolin, Cadmium Red & Cobalt Blue.

I didn't do the real bloom justice!

18 comments:

Stacy said...

You wrote, "I didn't do the real bloom justice!"
On the contrary Robyn! Both of these paintings are gorgeous!! I love the complimentary red and green in the poppy painting and how the yellow in the background pulls out the yellow in the flower.
The pears are very well done too! I can almost hear the crinkle of that paper bag.

Sheila said...

Wow, great paintings.

Africantapestry and Myfrenchkitchen said...

That beautiful pears!It is really an exquisite painting! The surface looks like a shiny table top and the reflections are beautifully done, not too mentions the lovely shadings...
And of course I love your poppy for its carefree and loose treatment,like it should be..
Ronell

Lin said...

OH MY GOSH! The pears, the poppies! OH YES!!! GORGEOUS!!! I so remember the poppies in the fields when I visited Sicily -- and poppies bring me back to that magical visit! These are fanastic!

caseytoussaint said...

Beautiful work, Robyn! The pears absolutely stand out - really gorgeous, and I love your poppy. Poppies are my favorite - we have some in our yard as well, and I encourage them - you've done a wonderful job capturing this.

Making A Mark said...

Poppies are so gorgeous aren't they? I love them - you're so lucky to be living somewhere they are out already.

Your colours are lovely. I'm wondering whether the niggle you're having about the poppy might be to do with the values. When I have a niggle I always check the greyscale and it's almost always something to do with values.

Anonymous said...

Hello Robyn,
I am a fellow expat (living in Torino). I love your work...Complimenti!

Kerstin Klein said...

You didn't do the real bloom justice????? WEll, your painted poppy is even more wonderfuil than the real pic. Wow! (I´m envious! ;) )

Laureline said...

You did so! How on earth did you get that lovely, crinkly texture throughout the painting? It is a perfect equivalent to the crepey texture of the poppy blossom. And your pears---you've got a whole world of color out of just umber! Wonderful work, you!

Anonymous said...

Robyn,
Both of these paintings are special - and I actually like your painted poppy better than the photo-so colorful yet so soft.

Joan said...

These are super! I like the monochromatic one of the pears in the bag. Nicely done! But the poppy is wonderful!! Soft with brilliant color to it. Love that highlight on the petal on the left. Thanks for sharing your Italy. Ciao!

Delina said...

Beautiful pictures. The poppies have been out here for a while. There seems to be so many of them this year!

Robyn Sinclair said...

What a wonderful surprise. I got back from Florence last night - exhausted (see latest post) to find all these lovely comments. It's Blogger's Delight!
Stacy, Lin, Sheila, Ronell, KS, Shirley, Joan. I so appreciate your continuing
support.

Casey - It is a challenge to keep the poppies in the yard! HWEM was pulling them out as weeds until he was gently spoken to!

Katherine - You are absolute right, I had a lot of trouble getting deep enough darks with this palette.

Laurie - Thank you for visiting. I must check out the Expats Forum.

Laura - Thank you! That crinkly texture was a happy accident when the two very rich pigments mingled.

Delina - Thank you - I saw the jug of poppies on your blog. They'd make a great watercolour.

Emma Pod said...

Beautiful work on both the poppy and the bag of pears. They are both stunning and pretty!

laserone_ said...

Oh, the poppy painting is amazing. Very beautiful! Love your artwork. :)

Robyn Sinclair said...

Emma and Laserone - please keep commenting, I can't tell you how happy it makes me!

pedalpower said...

My goodness, you have fabulous blog and beautiful artwork. I'm adding you to my favorites.

Robyn Sinclair said...

That's very sweet of you Pedalpower. I'm enjoying your sketches too.

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