Red Roses

"Studio View"

6x6 oil on canvas panel
Click to Buy

I don't think I realized how much I love the color red in all of its variations until I began to use so many different reds in my painting. Since it's a primary, red cannot be mixed and so I have a grab bag of reds which are a must have, particularly for flowers.
Today in the studio I set this little vase of wild roses (clipped from an abandoned building near my studio) on the window sill, backlit against the treescape outside the. The yellow flowers look to be some form of dandelion. 
My friend and fellow GJWP artist, Lisa Daria Kennedy was the inspiration for this very loosely painted bouquet of reds. This is a subject she favors and she has plenty of experience considering she's painted over a thousand daily paintings!

Tools of the Trade

Click to Bid

It's fairly accurate to say that with a warm and a cool of each primary you can mix almost anything, but reds are a different story. Certain reds are necessary to get good pinks. Some of my fave's are Thalo Red Rose (Grumbacher) Quinacridone Magenta (WN) and Quinacridone Red (Utrecht). 

Bright sparkly reds are some of the important Tools of the Trade for me. Check out this month's Girls Just Wanna Paint blog for more paintings of 'tools'. Also, our GJWP show at Duxbury Free Library is up through June so go take a peek ;}