"Garden Blooms" - Acrylic on stretched canvas, 20” x 20”

Originally published December 18, 2023

The "Garden Blooms" set consists of 4 floral acrylic paintings, the first 2 of which are on 20" x 20" square canvasses and the other 2 are magnolia studies on smaller canvases. I wanted to experiment with different painting techniques and compare and contrast them. One painting was a relatively tight painting with more visible details and texture and the other is a looser more dynamic painting with quick brushstrokes and minimal texture. The first painting, "Summer Lily" is of a pink tiger lily with a hummingbird painted with acrylics on a background of green foliage painted with chalk pastels.

"Summer Lily"- Acrylic on stretched canvas 20" x 20"

The second one, "Spring Tulips" was created using Ali Kay Studio's technique of creating an underpainting using complementary colors to the finished painting. So I used a purple underpainting for the yellow flowers and a phthalo blue with ultramarine blue underpainting for the red flowers. It was done very loosely and took me just a few days to finish.

"Spring Tulips" Acrylic on stretched canvas 20" x 20"

Even though I enjoyed both paintings, I observed my feelings during the process of creating both. "Summer Lily" took me a few weeks to finish. While I initially got lost in the details especially of the hummingbird, eventually, the tightness of the painting started to frustrate me as I felt I was just merely correcting mistakes and moving paint around. At some point I had to call it done and move on. The second painting was a much looser process, especially once I got a solid underpainting down. After that, it was just a matter of putting the mid-tones and highlights in strategic places. My brush technique was much more dynamic as I simply decided where dark values for the shadows and light values for highlights would be placed. Also, I translated those values into shapes, rather than get lost in the details. The painting therefore has more movement and energy to it and despite the slightly darker hue compared to the first painting, it is a more appealing to the eye.

Both paintings are now available on "The Bountiful Now" shop on my blog and on my Etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1628900007/acrylic-floral-painting-on-stretched and https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1614734438/acrylic-floral-painting-on-stretched