"Tulips in a Dutch Vase" (oil on stretched canvas; 12" x 9")

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Danni Dawson gave her portrait painting class a homework last week: paint an interesting tulip still life.  So did we, as she must be obeyed!  This is what I came up with.  I arranged five tulips from my garden in a small Dutch vase on a reflective metal serving platter, then painted them against a muted gray background.  Sadly tulips are pretty much done now.  My husband and I are going to plant lots of specialty tulip bulbs this fall for my painting fun!

"Autumn Colors" (oil on linen; 8" x 6") sold

"Autumn Colors"
sold

Still life setup

A good thing about painting still lifes is that I have a complete control over the subject matter and lighting.  If I choose fruits and vegetables, I get to eat them afterwards.  Flowers will adorn my house after posing for me as long as they are long-lasting kinds.  I learned the tricky business of painting fickle flowers hard way last year, when I tried to paint pink parrot tulips from my garden.  I ended up finishing the largish painting from a photograph, which I think negated the purpose of painting a still life from life!

"Pink Parrot Tulips" (oil, 20" x 16")
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So the yellow mum, a very long-lasting flower, was a wise choice for a still life of autumn colors.  The small Hubbard pumpkin with the most enchanting pinkish orange color alone would have made a painting, but in order to make it more companionable, I also picked up delicious, multi-colored, cherry tomatoes.  How about getting all the "ingredients" for my painting at a grocery store! 

The gold ribbon was added for a graceful flow between the foreground tomatoes and the background mum.  I cannot believe that I managed to paint this rather ambitious arrangement in such a small canvas!

"Pink Parrot Tulips" (oil on canvas, 20" x 16")

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Still life setup

I don't know what I was thinking when I started this ambitious still life project in the middle of a busy week.  It took four days to finish, and every time when I sat down to paint, there was a different setup in front of me.  By Friday, the tulips were dead; the yellow-orange spray of flowers prone on the fabric was long gone.  it's good that I had taken the photo as a backup.  A friend of mine told me the other day that she was "done" with photos, and I am sure they are an anathema to the purists.  But I don't know how I would have completed the painting without the photographic aid.  You tell me.

There were two challenges that I had to face in painting "Stilll Life with Pink Parrot Tulips."  I chose the brocade-looking fabric, thinking that it complemented the curvy, sensuous feel of the setup.  Deciding how developed it should be a puzzle though.  In the end I left it at a vague and suggestive stage so that it didn't compete with the main show. 

The gerbera daisy vase was another big headache; the fancy bas-relief design was really tricky to render.  When I started painting still lifes a month ago, I mentioned something about a simple glass vase wtih a few sprigs of flowers being the extent of my ambition.  I should have stuck to my words.  On the other hand, how would I grow as an artist if I don't continually challenge myself?