In the garden: new floral art
Back in May, I wrote this post: Garden of Delights: collage art in progress. It shows these mixed-media paintings at the half-way stage. Since then, I've been away a few times on art courses and vacations, and worked on other projects, but I'm happy to announce that these floral art paintings are now finished and ready for sale.
They are acrylic paintings on MDF panels with collage elements made from hand-painted papers. They bring together a subject that I love - animals and flowers in the garden - with the artistic elements that feel good to create and have the contemporary style I'm going for.
These elements are: strong shapes, interesting textures, a mix of contrasting and harmonious colours, natural lines and eye-catching details. My aim was to create paintings that use more formal compositional principals whilst remaining fun and playful. They are not intended to be realistic observational studies. Cutting out the little shapes from paper makes me simplify natural forms down to their bare bones.
For "Sea of Poppies", I built up layers of translucent colour before cutting and sticking down all the collage flower shapes. I put on some music and powered through this process, placing the shapes quickly to create a lively rhythm. I made the butterfly carefully to fit the space, give a natural focus and sense of life.
In the early stages, "The White Hart" background was a sea of blues that called for a restrained colour selection. There were some wisteria in flowers near to my studio which gave me the idea of hanging branches and flowers. The deer shape came later to what, in my mind, was a woodland scene. The white hart is a rare white, red deer stag, known in mythology. Has anyone seen a real one? In Arthurian legend, the white hart represented mankind's spiritual quest. Apparently, it's also been featured in the TV series "House of the Dragon" which I'm afraid I haven't seen!
In a very stylised way, the image above represents foxgloves in a garden setting - maybe one with some ruins that nature has colonised. I love the lime green/magenta contrast which I've probably over-used in recent work! Whenever you see foxgloves or rose-bay willowherb in the countryside, they have this amazing colour "pop."
In this detail, you can see the thickness of the MDF panel. I've painted around the edges so that it can be hung unframed but it can also have a floating frame - see below.
The colours for "Thistles" went a different direction: it was all the same paints but without the blue. It's amazing how much colour variation you can get from a simple combination of Payne's Grey, White, Ochre and Magenta. (There may've been some lemon...) You can read about how I developed my current colour palette in my post: Lemon Meranggue Pie with Cream
The flowers here clearly derive from thistles but with greatly simplified silhouettes. I've found that when I try more realism, the image moves away from the more contemporary look I'm going for. As with all these paintings, I didn't have a plan of where I was going with them, it just evolves through the process. After each layer or stage, I take stock and let the painting tell where it wants to go and what it wants to be. It's a kind of dialogue: I have a strong sensation that there are two of us and I'm not really in charge!
These paintings with collage are now varnished (satin finish) and ready for sale. They can be hung as they are (I'll put a hook on the back) or framed with a floating frame - see below for an example in grey but other colours are available. Just get in touch if you're interested in making a purchase. Phone/text me on +447717256169 or email info@rebecca-vincent.co.uk
If you enjoyed these paintings, you might like to see others like them in my online shop.
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