Cascade

I finally finished the hydrangea I began working on when I moved to Texas in May and discovered this beautiful plant tucked behind a fence where very few people can see it. Half-way through I got very bored... but there was something about layering these soft colors that kept me looking at it as it sat in my print rack. (See previous blog showing an earlier stage of this painting) When I purchased my first tube of Manganese Blue, I decided this color was just what that painting needed, so I began to add layers of manganese throughout petals, in the leaves and stems as bounced color. Then, after stepping back from the painting numerous times, I popped in strong ultramarine blue, perinone orange, heavily pigmented quin gold and a bit of permanent red in the areas where I wanted my center of interest. I also worked up a strong background color of ultramarine, thalo green and burndt scarlet to layer over the previous background. Though I signed the painting, I will have it sitting out where I walk by it for the next several days. Each time my eye catches it, I may find a stroke I want to add or a correction I want to make. If I live with it around me and am still pleased in a few days, It will be framed.