Ocean Roses 3

Ocean Roses

By Susan Roux

(painting in progress)

Ocean Roses is close to completion. Class has moved along at a very good pace, especially for beginners. We developed the remainder of the rose foliage. It was interesting to see how everyone's stroke, being so different, yielded quite varied results. Since a large part of the painting is this foliage, everyone's canvas took on it's own personality. Prior to this, their works were very similar.

As for my own progress, I'm wondering if all this simplification is causing me to loose some of the "interest" that existed before. I like the fullness I achieved with the bush. It was the focus while getting the class to sculpt it. We worked with darks, lights and mid-tones to create volume. I tried to preserve some of the exciting underpainting colors, but failed a bit. I don't think all is lost however. I'll have to work in some excitement as we finish it up next week.

I can see additional tweaking will be necessary in my flowers, especially the large focal point one. Its much stiffer than I'd like. By eliminating one blossom on the far ridge, my composition improved. As we advance the canvas, elements need adjusting...

Its been a learning experience for me to photograph each session's evolution. I knew my progression differed within my classes than when on my own, but a visual record gives me a base to evaluate it with. I wasn't expecting this. Its a good surprise. Hopefully it will help me with future class work. If I can tell at which point it falls apart or looses interest, maybe I can really focus on preventing it from happening.

Time will tell...

I'm posting the other images to show the progress and evolution. Your comments are appreciated.

What do you think?