Painting Mom’s roses
Posted by markhwebster on March 18th, 2015 • 0 Comments
In 1970 I was a typical troubled teen full of angst. There was marching and protests in the streets over the Vietnam war. With all the turmoil, not to mention the draft, I was confused about what I wanted to do in life. But mom had a garden full of roses and knew I loved to draw. She would pick roses and set them on the coffee table in the living room where I would see them. I drew her roses, repeatedly in a variety of mediums. I still have those old drawings.
Fast forward 45 years and I’m still painting roses, or trying to. I bought a $15 bouquet on the weekend and got two paintings out of it before they wilted too badly. I read a lot on www.wetcanvas.com about painting. They have a FAQ page for beginning oil painters. One of the top 5 common mistakes is called “Licking”. This is where you brush the canvas, then re-brush the same spot repeatedly trying to make the brush stroke perfect. It’s called “licking” in reference to a cat licking it’s fur.
When I read that a light went on in my head. In the roses paintings below I am practicing my new “no licking” policy.
Three recent paintings from the last week:
roses palette knife
roses
peppers and teapot