Thursday, March 11, 2010

Daffodils


Daffodils
Originally uploaded by linfrye
Daily Practice
Journal

The daffs are blooming here at the Arboretum! Mine at home are barely out of the ground -- and it always amazes me the difference made by 90 miles in longitude!

This practice piece didn't quite turn out the way I had intended, but my friend liked it and so I thought I'd post it anyway. What I've been trying to work through (bananas, poppies, wisteria) is the use of compliments to highlight and/or dramatize and/or accent some of the areas of a painting. Thierry de Marichalar (whose work has inspired this study) also uses analogous colors to highlight particular parts of a painting. I'm trying to learn to use these methods across different subjects. I find the most difficult colors to use are the yellow and purple .. it seems far more challenging to keep the yellow pure with all that violet around! LOL

I'm also trying to work through 'lost and found edges' within this method. I really love the look of some edges fading into the background .. and so this piece was my attempt to practice this as well.

It's VERY foggy outside this morning. Temps are warm -- this morning 50F!! And even with rain in the forecast, it's such a relief to shed that down jacket for a while!

We've got an additional group of new volunteers for 'Plant a Row for the Hungry" .... Today we plant strawberries in hanging bags and begin designing the two large beds we've set aside for the project.

Have a great day!

4 comments:

Lorraine said...

Lovely and such interesting concepts to try. I had not heard of either one and I think it's fascinating. I also love the reflection of the colors on the glass. Super!
Hugs,
Lorraine

annie said...

Wonderful results, Lin--they really capture the delicacy of the daffs and yet let them stand forth in the midst of all the color. I think the lost and found edges really contribute to those effects. I am enchanted by these lost and found edges, in particular, because I have not learned to do them yet... Can't stop looking at them.

annie

Joan said...

I like how the purple highlights the petals of the daffodils!!! Nice lost and found edges. This is lovely. I always loved daffs. They always seemed to say SPRING!!! Have a springy day!!!

Pat said...

I enlarged this so I could enjoy it more. Love the color push and I found you lost edges. Very nice.
Hugs
pat