A Rose is a Rose is a Rose

Painting original art work is an experiment, experimenting in composition, in color, in contrast and texture. Sometimes the creativity works, sometimes it is an artistic train wreck. I worked on a project I have had in mind for a while, doing a large portrayal of flowers, a rose in particular. Dan had taken photographs of a couple of beautiful roses. The shape of the flower was appealing, but the color was the first matter for experiment. In the first painting I tried some color combinations that were meant to make the painting look luminescent.

The white background colors didn't seem to work, so I darkened the leaves. Then the whole thing was too abrupt, so I worked on the leaves to be more subtle and impressionistic which improved the background.

I didn't change the blue rose in these first paintings, just the backgrounds, the time of day and the amateur photographing skills.

The new colors of the background didn't jive with the blue tones of the rose. There had to be the consideration of complimentary colors. Color combination rules say that the best combinations are "complimentary" which mean reds and greens go together, blues and oranges, yellows and purples. Each of those duos provide shadow colors for each other. Shadow colors for red should have some green in the shadows, etc. Nature provides its own rules for putting shades of green with every color in the rainbow, but working on a rose that has lots of pink, which is a shade of red, seemed to be the best route to go.

It was an interesting evolution of shape, composition and color. The finished painting is going to be displayed in a local medical clinic, sort of an "elevator" art - the kind of art work that hangs on walls in offices that is non-descript, non-invasive. Hopefully, the rose is a soothing bit of therapy for the clinic.