I
received a bouquet of Oriental Stargazer Lilies for Valentine’s Day from
my husband, he knew I loved these flowers from long ago and surprised
me with them. He is very sweet that way. Their fragrance is
intoxicating and they filled half the house with their scent for over a
week. I set them on my kitchen table which is an oriental fish pot with a
heavy beveled glass top. The Irish lace curtains in the window allowed
much filtered light to cascade in. I had to paint them, so I looked
for a few more items that I felt related to their color. After I played
with arranging the Fenton Glass candy dish and the Caribbean Queen
Conch shell, I felt it needed more, so I added the Chintz plate under
the vase. They all appeared so old world like a kitchen from the past
in Europe. Combining all these on a glass tabletop with sheer lace
curtains was an eyeful to enjoy. Only I had to do more than that being
an artist, it had to be painted. I wanted to paint a large 24x30
canvas, but I changed my mind knowing the flowers would not last more
than a week. I felt stressed to capture the flowers by painting them
from life, the impulse was so strong, I just dived in one afternoon when
the light was just right. I could only work in a 2-1/2 hour time span
each day because that`s when the sun hit this composition perfectly.
After that the sun would sink down below the rooftop of the next door
neighbor`s house. My kitchen dinette served as an art studio for one
week while I enjoyed painting the Stargazers and the other lovely
objects. Below is an image of the painting in it`s beginning stages in
my kitchen dinette. You can see how much light pours in on a sunny day,
the camera overexposed the light a bit on the table.
I kept thinking about relationships of everything the whole time I
painted it. I was painting structurally at first. Design relationships
of shapes, of color notes, of unity, of reflections, of values, of
linear direction and so on. Then I thought about how I relate to each
object, these were things I loved and probably things my grandmothers
and their mothers would have loved. So, there was a spiritual
connection going on both inside and outside; how the objects stood alone
as design elements. I refused to paint them pretty and all neat like
because I am an impressionist artist and I have the preference to make
an artistic statement not a realistic one. Plus, I like to paint with a
loaded paint brush, thick and gestural strokes. This whole painting
experience was like an exploration of visual textures, shapes of color,
figure to ground relationships, movement, rhythm, depth reflections and
color harmony. In the end I felt I was crazy to take on lace curtains
behind all this matrix of flowers, a glass vase and tabletop, let alone
the other objects. The painting really possessed me for a week, I was
constantly mesmerized by the compositional arrangement and how complex
it was. I had to simplify in an artful-beautiful way that would make
these flowers last forever in my mind. The lace curtains had to be an
impression, not painted like a thing. I wanted them to interweave with
the flowers in a lower contrast, which was a challenge. They were
painted last after all the grid-like floral arrangement was painted in.
It turned out quite French in appearance, who knows maybe I had one of
the French Impressionists invade my soul, like
Camille Pissarro.
The link will take you to a painting of his from 1875 which is a vase
of pink peonies. I loved his simple, direct statement when painting
still lifes. I loved his organic choice of colors. I have admired his
works greatly, besides all the other famous French artists like Monet,
Renoir, Degas, etc… Or maybe it`s all the influence from visiting their
works in museums and reading about each for decades. Whatever the case
is, artists place their influences from their life, family, experiences
and studies into their art. I never know how a work of art is going to
turn out because I paint intuitively as the process evolves.
I like how this turned out and am feeling it needs to be kept as a
family piece. The next time I get a bouquet of flowers and paint it
from this position, I will sell it. Or if you have some highly regarded
objects that you would like to commission me to paint, let me know.
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