Potted Purple Pansy

"Potted Purple Pansy"
24" x 24"
Oil on hardboard 
On my way into the grocery store yesterday I passed racks of potted pansies. On my way out I pulled out the camera that I always carry with me and photographed a few of them.  When I got home and imported them into iPhoto I realized that a few to me meant 62 images of pansies.  A few are good enough to use as subject matter.  My brain knows how many shots it takes to get a "few."  

Carol

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Soft Pansy

"Soft Pansy"
10" x 10"
Oil on Hardboard
In my state they plant pansies as fall flowers in corporate gardens because of their hardiness in cool weather.  On account of our extended fall, the pansies flourished in my zip code this year. It was nice to see purple and pink in the fall instead of just oranges and golds.  

 Even after yesterday's snow, there were still little monkey faces smiling through the pine boughs and bayberry branches in front of the UPS Store this evening.

Carol

Dailypainters.com
Dailypaintworks.com
My Gallery
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Pink Pansy

"Pink Pansy"
8" x 8"
Oil on wrapped canvas 

The light was magnificent on the furls and folds of this hot pink pansy the day I stopped to catch my breath at the top of the mountain in Winter Park.  Oil painter, Karen Vance had loaned me her ski lift medallion, so I went as high as I could without fainting, for lack of oxygen. Who knew that pansies grow where humans dare to breathe? 

It was August, the light really was great for capturing what I did on this beauty.  When I paint pansies, I always want to pant, I mean paint more.

Thanks for hiking by here today.
Carol

Pansy

"Pansy"
Oil on wrapped canvas
36" x 36"
I shot the reference photo for "Pansy" in Winter Park, Colorado last summer when I visited artist, Karen Vance.  There was nothing different between Illinois pansies and Colorado pansies, BUT this one reminded me of Marilyn Monroe's skirt in "The Seven Year Itch."

All of "Pansy" and many of my large, single bloom images have been painted with—a sponge.  Yes, even the tiny, hard-edged veins.  Probably your mind has conjured at least three different kinds of sponge by this time, but I'm not here to tease.  The magical tool is a masonry sponge.  Looks like an orange brick.

To reiterate, I paint with water miscible oils that dry faster than traditional oils, especially when applied thin.  I swirl on color with a snippet of sponge the size of a pack of chewing gum, wait for each layer to dry, and then swirl sheer glazes of color over each dry area.  The darker values of purple and yellow, above, were done in layers, not ala prima. Being a recovering watercolorist and a muralist/faux finisher, the use of non-traditional materials just comes naturally.  And over the next few days, I'll explain even more as you view additional pieces.

Thank you for visiting,
Carol