Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Black Eyed Susans

I had a request for a painting of black eyed susans and ran across a photograph I had taken over the summer of these flowers so I thought it would be a good idea to play with the colors a bit.  Green is a difficult color to work with, I think.  In this painting I didn't want the green too bright or too much like a grass green.  I ended up adding some winsor violet to my sap green to get a darker hue.  In error, I added a bit of hooker's green and was quick to decide it didn't suit the painting. 

I'd love to hear other artists' experience with greens.....do you use colors straight from the tube or do you mix colors to get your greens? 

15 comments:

  1. Beautiful! I love black eyed susans and I agree that green is tough. With flowers, you don't want it too pretty or bright, but still dark. I like your idea of adding the violet to darken, I just always use the red and blue separately- saves a step!
    Sheryl

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  2. Sheryl....thank you. My winsor violet never fails me. I think it's one of my favorite colors, along with quinacridone gold.

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  3. Beautiful. Love the piece. I also use violets for darks.

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  4. Thank you Becky. I checked out your blog and I'm particularly fond of your Sky #3 painting. I love your style and wish I had more time to do oils.

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  5. Gretchen, thanks for stopping my blog. Like you, I enjoy finding and meeting fellow artists in Southwest OH. I grew up in Montgomery Co. and moved down here when my husband got a teaching job on the east side along the river. I did not try WC until 12 yrs. ago and fell head over heals with it. I look forward to getting to know you through our blog/artwork.

    As for your "greens" I am still trying to figure them out myself. It is the most complained about color amongst my friends too. I too use violet/ultramarine to darken my colors and use in shadows, however, in greens I sometimes use Aliz. Crimson because opposites on the color wheel works the best.
    Gaylynn

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  6. Beautiful painting Gretchen, and what ever your doing looks great to me!

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  7. Hey "asmalltowndad"....thank you for your comment and encouragement. I checked out your blog and I love your art! I'll check back periodically. It's extremely helpful to get feedback/critiques on my work from this wonderful online artist community. And I am happy to return the favor as well.

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  8. Gaylynn...thanks! I'll have to try the Alizeron Crimson. Looking forward to sharing and blogging with you.

    Pat...thank you so much.

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  9. Dear Gretchen,
    Thank you for visiting my blog! What a lovely work and all your watercolor is charming! I'm learning lots from you. Keep up your wonderful work!!
    Kind regards, Sadami

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  10. Very nice picture, Gretchen! Such a delicate. I really like these flowers. Next to my house is a meadow, where they grow wild, escaped from gardens. :)

    I don't like raw colors straight from the tube, so I always mix them on a pallet. Even if I use ready-made greens, I always break the color, using yellows, reds, blues or browns.

    Thank you for visiting my blog. I'm very happy I found yours. :)
    Sorry for my poor English - I'm working on it!
    Best regards.

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  11. Akwarelia....what a great thing to have an entire meadow of black eyed susans so close by. Thank you for your advice on the greens. Don't worry about your English.....did I see from your blog you are from Poland?

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  12. Yes, Gretchen, I am. It's difficult to maintain a foreign language at a good level, if you don't use it every day. But I try not to give up. :)

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  13. I took Latin while in high school, but it's not really a language to speak. I wish I had learned another language. I just think it's wonderful having the opportunity to connect with other artists from all over the world through blogging and be able to communicate with them no matter where they are from. I look forward to visiting your blog.

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  14. Thank you very much! I love Blogger for the same reasons. It is really wonderful that we can share and exchange experiences with others.
    Have a nice painting day!

    Best wishes. :)

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