20131030 - Thistle with Bee (Painting)

Yesterday, I decided to pick up the challenge of not just drawing, but painting the Thistle with Bee. You may remember that I had done a pen & ink only drawing of the Thistle with Bee. This time, I decided to make it a bit larger (11x14 inches) and paint it.

I am fairly pleased with the painting. My rule of thumb on this is that if I would not mind giving it as a gift, then it passes muster.

Of course, there are always things I would like to improve. The thistle color did not come out quite right. It should have been a bit brighter pink purple. I suspect I should have used Ultramarine Pink. I tried to use a rose and a violet to get some of the same effect.

Things that did work right include the bee. It's not perfect, but I'm pretty pleased with it. I also intentionally color shifted the stems and leaves. I did that to have it show "weedy" growth. For the background I used a similar green, then used a bluer green exploding outward from the thistle. This carries the "motion" of the thistle outward.

All things considered, I am fairly pleased with this painting. Especially since I have also been dealing with a really huge floater that floats into the center of my vision. Yuck. I spent most of the day on this past Sunday at the Duke University emergency room. Appears I developed a partial vitreous detachment in my left (good) eye. Being unaware of the symptoms for that and problems with the retina, I decided I needed to have it checked immediately. The ophthalmologist on duty and the senior ophthalmologist on call both reassured me that since I have usable vision only in that one eye, I did the right thing to have it checked. Fortunately, there's no retina damage. But I do have a "honking big" floater that's right in the middle of my center of focus. And yes, it appears ophthalmologists use technical terms just like computer engineers do! .. ;-) ... So, all things considered, I am really pleased that I can still enjoy painting.

And I hope you enjoy this.

20131020 - Dilemma Solved - Pen & Ink Only

So, I solved my dilemma with this rendition of the photograph. I decided that this time this "painting" will be ONLY with pen & ink. As you can see, I use the ink as a value wash. That is, I use the ink to wash in the shading within the "painting". It's just a pen & ink drawing, but it feel as if it's more of a painting than just a "drawing".


As you can see from the reference photograph, it will be a good candidate for using watercolors.

Everyone loves to see thistle flower - especially with a bee on it.

My next effort with this painting will be to add color to it. I might make that one 11x14 size painting. The subject comes out pretty nicely and lends itself to pen & ink, so adding color to it should be fairly spectacular.

20131020 - Oy! The Dilemma!!

So, here's the problem of the day. I decided to do a pen & ink with watercolor wash of a photograph that a friend shared. It's a photograph of a thistle flower with a bee on it. As you can see, it's a wonderful, striking photograph.

As you can see,  I started to do the pen & ink work on this photograph. But unlike most of my efforts, I actually think I like this one just as a pen & ink drawing - without any watercolor added.

Oy! The dilemma! Should I leave it "as is" and just complete the pen & ink work. Or should I add color to it.

Of course, I might split the difference and leave this one as pen & ink only, but do another painting with watercolor. Decisions, decisions!