Decisions about what to paint.

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Do you have challenges deciding what to paint?  I sure do! I have SOOOO many things I want to paint, it's hard for me to pick just one or two (because I certainly can't paint more than that at one time!).  

This month I've been experimenting with technique while trying to get ready to show at the first Issaquah Artwalk on June 6th, 2014.  I'm hoping to get another 2-4 paintings done in the next 2 weeks, but I'm dithering about what to paint next...so I'll be lucky to get a couple done!

My latest paintings include my Dandelion series and an Iris.  For the dandelions, I wanted to try doing some silhouettes so I could mainly play with background colors.. but ended up painting in the silhouettes rather than leaving them as a black or white image with color all around.  I like how they turned out - but the results are not what I was originally going for.  It will be interesting to see how they really look once they are steamed.   I've done 2 different paintings and a bunch of strips which I'm going to (probably) cut into sections and mount on cards. All of these are (of course) painted upon recycled silk!

My first dandelion painting is Evening Weeds & Wishes done with the idea of the setting sun in mind.  I was mainly playing with dribbling colors and then tipping the painting and moving it around to produce blended colors for the background.  I liked the result and thought the greens looked somewhat like other plants in the background.
 
Evening Weeds & Wishes. Jacquard Dyes, Resistad, 9"x12"
My 2nd dandelion painting Morning's Gentle Wishes, was done with a similar paint-dribbling technique for the background - but enhanced to make the greens appear more like plants and flowers.  In this painting, the sky is a more typical soft blue of a typical misty morning in the pacific northwest.
Morning's Gentle Wishes
These are just simple dandelion puffs that I drew on with resists so I could play with blending colors.  I will probably cut them up and use the pieces for making greeting cards.  I do like the way they looked and may decide to mount one or two as paintings. 


Dandelion Puffs for cards

 My other idea I wanted to try -  was to accurately paint an iris.  Ironically, once I started on the painting, I lost the reference photo.  So I cobbled together other photos to use as references.  Once I was done, I found my reference photo (of course)...and it was NOT what I remembered.  The flower in the picture was red and my color-scheme is yellow and purple.  So I am pretty sure that my painted flower does not exist on earth as I've colored it... but I'm still pleased with how it turned out.   Again, this is not yet steamed, so I am unsure exactly how the colors will appear once it has been steamed.  In this painting, I was experimenting with how dye-set can be used to set colors while still painting.  So I'm unsure how much detail will be retained or lost once steamed. I'll post pictures when it's done and mounted.   This iris will be mounted on a 12"x12" canvas.

Yellow & Purple Iris, Jacquard Dyes, Dyeset, Resistad, 12"x12"
 
I'll post follow-up pictures to compare the before and after steaming. 

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