"Rose Shadows" (watercolor; 6" x 6")

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Cast shadows on the rose petals, dark shadows on leaves, and deep violet shadows beneath! Don't you love all these beautiful shadows?

""Pale Pink Rose" (watercolor; 6" x 6") sold

sold

With the success of the white peony painting, I decided to try another pale flower.  The painting reads as a glowing pale pink rose, doesn't it?  I guess I shouldn't avoid white or pale-hued flowers after all!

"Rose Glamour" (watercolor; 8" x 6") sold

sold

A peachy rose bush at its peak. What a gorgeous and glamorous sight!

"Rose Sunshine" (watercolor; 5" x 7")

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Rain, rain and more rain.  Hurricane Joaquin veered off to the ocean, but has still managed to dump a lot of rain along the East Coast for the past few days.  I desperately need sunshine!  What do I do?  Paint a peachy rose in the sun!

"Passion Rose" (watercolor; 7" x 5")

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A hot, red rose is the embodiment of passion, isn't it!

"Delicate Beauty" (watercolor; 7" x 5") sold

sold

Some roses are hot and passionate; others delicate and bashful. This one is definitely a delicate beauty!

"Smell the Roses" (oil on stretched canvas; 8" x 10") nfs

nfs

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter and I went to the Bon Air Memorial Rose Garden in Arlington, VA to admire roses.  It was too hot to linger, but I was able to take a few good pictures for my rose paintings.  My daughter happened to take the picture below when I was smelling roses.  I really liked it, so I decided to paint a self-portrait out of it.  What do you think of my efforts?

The reference photo

"Scarlet Beauty" (oil on linen; 8" x 6")

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I decided to paint another red rose, this time against a yellow/mauve background.  I am happy to report that the second rose painting went a little faster.  As they say, practice makes perfect!

"Regal Rose" (oil on linen; 8" x 8")

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I don't usually paint red roses.  Getting the velvety feel of the red petals feels like too much trouble, especially when the intense red color seems to absorb light and doesn't offer much value differences to go by.  But since I am in the middle of a rose fest, I decided to challenge myself to paint some.  Challenge it was.  After much work, the regal rose emerged!

"Pink, Orange, and Midnight Blue" (oil on linen, 12" x 12") sold

sold

This is the last plein air painting of the week.  No, I did not paint it at night.  The title has something to do with the dark purple blue background I chose at a whim.  I went back to Bon Air Memorial Rose Garden in Arlington by myself early Wednesday morning and wandered around for almost half an hour.  I just couldn't make up my mind.  Do I paint a beautiful wooden arbor and challenge myself with drawing?  A single rose?  Red roses?  A rose trellis?  I sat on every chair and bench at the park to try out different views.

Eventually I sat down to paint these pink/orange roses, pretty much out of exhaustion.  Some days are like that--an attack of indecisiveness.  An hour into the painting, I began to regret my choice.  The flowers slowly changed their forms before my eyes as the sun got higher!  Instead of panicking, I decided to relax and just enjoy the beautiful weather.  If the painting didn't turn out well, what did it matter?  Unlike the day before, bees, not a snake, kept me company.  Occasionally, park visitors stopped by to take a picture of me and roses.  I spent three lovely hours in the midst of roses.

When I came home, I printed out the photo of my models and worked on the problem areas right away since the paint was still wet.  I doubt that I will go back to the rose garden soon, but I learned much that day about shadows on roses.  With warm light, such as the sun, the shadows are generally cool; wtih cool light like the light from a north-facing window, shadows are warm; this rule, however, doesn't apply to roses because their petals are translucent.  Do you know what?  Some shadows were cool!  I read art books religiously, but nothing beats practice.  Painting from life in natural light for three consecutive days was a great gift to myself.