Work In Progress: Hydrangea, Update 5

Work In Progress: Hydrangea Update 5

            Refining the Shapes

In this pass I brought more clarity to the shapes, making them look more three dimensional. First, I went back over the flowers. I concentrated detail in the lower mass of flowers. Moving away from this center of interest, I gradually decreased the detail until, in the outer masses at the top and to the right, detail was the least. There was also the least amount of variety in tone and contrast on the perimeter. Most of the tonal range  and contrast is centered in the bottom mass of flowers. The blues used in the center of interest were CO 390 prussian blue, CO 405 ultramarine blue, CO 450 cyan blue, CO 440 sky blue, CO 435 ultramarine blue light, PP 143 cobalt blue and PP 140 light ultramarine. The darker colors were used more in the center of interest. I used some CO 100 titanium white for the flower centers, some highlights on petal edges and near the centers of the flowers.

The leaves came next. I had initially blocked them in but did little additional work on them. The deepest shadows were a mix of CO 390 prussian blue and PP 174 chrome green opaque. The lighter areas were a mix of PP 174 and PP 168 earth green yellowish. In the sunlit portions of the leaves I added CO 106 light chrome yellow. After initially filling in the area of the leaf, I used PP 106 to draw in the veins, then I added texture to the leaves with a combination of the three Pitt Pastels.

I decided to add some background to the mass of flowers, but wanted to keep it diffuse. Here I used CO 440 sky blue, CO 450 cyan blue, CO 435 ultramarine blue light, PP168 earth green yellowish and PP174 chrome green opaque. I stroked in the colors and smudged them with my finger. Adding the background also had the effect of diminishing the importance of the leaves. I felt they were beginning to compete with the flowers for attention. Now they seemed to blend more into the background, especially in areas where I purposely lost some edges.

IMG_2312a WIP Hydrangea Updaet 5

            Next, I’ll complete the background and add the final touches to the painting.

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