Sarah in Apple Blossom Time

Another small painting (8″x10″). Painted in an afternoon, stops and starts, you know how Sunday afternoon is! The actual time should have been less than an hour. The video will be posted next time and it is important because brushwork is the key to this painting. There are many changes from previous works. Lets start with the colours. The subject of the painting dictated this set. Alizarin Crimson, Yellow Ochre, Cerulean Blue – that’s the red, yellow and blue. Supporting cast – Raw Umber and Sap Green. But the biggest difference from previous colour schemes is that there is no black. White, of course, there is in abundance. Also, no medium used until I get near the end. The brushes are all relatively large for such a small painting, but as mentioned in previous posts this is something I am trying to do from now on.

By omitting black I am forced into keeping the painting ‘high key’. That is, the overall image is light in colour. This is important for this subject. I sometimes think my paintings tend to be a little bit on the dark side (see Bluebell Wood) and this is an exercise in raising the tone of the painting. As you will see in the video, I continually work over the painting to add as many interesting shapes and colours as possible. The background could have been a dull flat hedge with too many distracting details and I certainly did not want to have a ‘photographic blur’ (see Photography,…). I wanted the brush marks to be visible and details to be suggested.

About the model: Sarah (one of grandchildren), loves pulling flowers in the garden. She is very determined, sometimes she goes a little overboard, so she works fast before she’s apprehended. I have a few photographs of the time she ‘blitzed’ the place, it was May, apple blossom time. Her mother (my daughter) was the very same at her age and looked very like her as well.

I should have the time lapse video soon as it’s a short movie. I will be compressing it down to about 8 minutes, and because the initial is only about 30 minutes the movement won’t be too fast.