Yellow Roses and Pink Flowers - Still Life

I'm beginning to think of still life painting as a sort of therapy.  When I'm totally frustrated and at a loss with whatever painting I'm currently working on...or even if I just need a break...still life seems just what the doctor ordered.  This still life served just such a therapeutic purpose.  I'm currently working on two involved paintings, one a figure in a complicated costume and the other a large landscape.  Neither seems to be going particularly well at the moment.  It was time for a break from the struggle. 

Last weekend I wandered into the garden, clipped some yellow roses and some pink flowers. (I don't know what the pink flowers are...but the "bush" they are growing on is the size of a small to medium tree.  I don't cut it as I probably should because it provides some much needed shade on the small patio adjoining my studio.)   I haven't used this particular vase before so I put the flowers in and around it, draped a white towel over my cardboard still life "stage" and away I went. 

I have about four hours in this 16" x 12" painting.    I'd like to do a bit more study on still life painting and in particular, learn more about painting flowers, but until I do I find these simple setups a lot of fun to do.  There's something pretty freeing about still life...and those wonderful colors are just great to dive into! 

Yellow Roses with Pink Flowers   Oil on canvas  16 x 12"

My Art Site: Bruce Hancock Fine Art

Rose in a Coke Bottle - Still Life

More roses!  Today was a hot Sunday afternoon.  But I'm not complaining: it was a perfect California Summer Day!  About 3 PM I'd finished all the chores to prepare for the week and I had the urge to paint.  I knew I wouldn't have much time, so I decided to do another simple still life.

My granddaughter Lily had left a coke bottle on the table on the backyard deck and it caught my eye.  I pruned a couple of roses from the garden and set up this simple still life.  The yellow roses quickly wilted because they weren't in water, and by the end of the painting, they were flat and shapeless...and that's my excuse for why mine look flat and shapeless in the painting!  I really need to spend some time learning to paint roses!

This painting is done on Ampersand Gessobord.  It's a very slick surface and I like it quite a bit.  It takes some getting used to...and I'm not totally there yet...but the colors stay on the surface nicely.  I have about 1 1/2 hours in this small study.  When it sets a bit, I'm going to have another go at the roses, I think.

Roses and Coke Bottle    12" x 9" Oil on Gessobord  

My Art Site: Bruce Hancock Fine Art