Almost Plein Air Roses .. Cherries, acrylic painting

Note: When I started posting, Blogger was giving me trouble. I went to save to restart my computer and hit "publish" so it published before I finished. Oh well. Here we go again.

I was all enthused today to try painting roses in the yard. I think roses are the hardest thing to paint, really. To make them look fragile and beautiful is not easy. I need the practice. (If you want to see some pretty roses, check out Rebecca Finch's post today.) I got my set up ready, it is something like this:

This is the table as I take it out of the bag. Didn't notice my toes, sorry.

This is the table before putting the top on, you just pull it apart and hook the black eyes over the ends of the stand.

The table, stool and folding easel.

I bought the table at Wal-Mart, made by Ozark Trail for Wal-Mart. It is a camping table, but works well. It is perfect for painting if you sit down. I use it standing up for holding paint, water, pastels, etc., too. It works but I have to bend over. :) I got the stool at Eddie Bauer at the outlet mall in San Marcos. The easel was purchased at Jerry's Artarama in Austin. (Because I mentioned Jerry's I should also say that it is great to have a huge art supply store nearby, but I have not been happy with any of the frames I bought there. Hmmm.) This was the easiest set up to use today. I also use a french easel which I will show another time. I painted sitting down, I usually paint standing up.

I got my self and stuff all ready to go and then ... the British Open didn't end. Tiger was out, and I had it on in the background of my organizing. Sergio Garcia had been ahead most of the tournament, but he was having a so, so day and others were catching up. When he was on #16, Padrig Harrington pulled ahead by 2 or 3 shots going into 18 so I figured that was it. Padrig hit into the berm (water, there), it bounced several times on a bridge and almost made it across and then went in. Then his second shot went in again. He finished at -7. Sergio came into #18 at -8, needing just a par to win. He made a bogie so a playoff of 4 holes. Padrig won. But I did not go paint the roses. :)

I decided to paint a little still life while I watched as I had the paint ready and Gene was out on his bike. What to paint? We had some cherries that were sitting there in a little blue bowl, so that was it.


Guess they will be called, "Life is Just .. " or some such. The painting is 5 x 7 inches, acrylic, on an Everlast Canvas panel. I'm pleased with the effort. My palette was cadmium yellow light, naples yellow, cadmium red light, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, thalo blue, and titanium white.

Gene returned and I moved to the front yard to paint the roses. The ones I had picked out in the morning had lost their petals and all that was left on the bush was yellow roses. The hard to paint roses are even harder if they are yellow! So around to the front door and found some that were red and yellow, the yellow ones get red on the ends of the petals as they mature. I did a painting but it is a wipe off and I will call it practice. Maybe I will show you the next one. :)