Peach Parfait Roses 33

Hi! I hope you're having a great week so far! Today I switched paintbrush strokes and painted a few roses on an 11" x 14" canvas panel inspired by a lesson in The Beauty of Oil Painting book by Gary Jenkins. I'm not really thrilled with how the roses turned out but at some point, one must move on. Gary always reminds his students that one will probably have to paint at least 400 hundred roses to get the hang of the strokes! I'm two closer to my goal ;)

99.9 % of my paintings are "alla prima" style meaning (at first attempt) a wet on wet technique.

For color inspiration, I joined along with this week's ColourQ color challenge:

I'm joining along with this week's Paint Party Friday site:

Thanks so much stopping by!
Be Sweet ;)

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a trio of luminescent poppies 24

Happy Summer! I've been practicing painting poppies AGAIN. This time, I painted a trio of luminescent white poppies on an 11" x 14" canvas panel inspired by a lesson in The Beauty of Oil Painting book by Gary Jenkins.

After painting and repainting each poppy 2 or 3 times, I stepped away and called it complete. I can see where I need improvement so on to the next. Each brush stroke is quite a learning experience. 

I'm joining along with the current Paint Party Friday site:

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Be Sweet ;)

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Thinking of You 31

Hi! I hope you are having a great Saturday! Today I have a trio of quite similar cards to share featuring pretty flowers from the PTI Vintage Linens stamp set which I bought months ago and never used until today. I was in need of a Thinking of You card for my dear sister who has endured 12 weeks of chemotherapy, a bilateral mastectomy and 2nd stage reconstruction surgery for stage 3 breast cancer. She has opted out of radiation but will continue with 7 months of chemotherapy. 

The next two are sympathy cards for Scott's family members who are in my thoughts and prayers. Scott's 53 year young cousin passed away last week.

 For sketch inspiration, I joined along with the current Freshly Made Sketches sketch challenge:

 and for color inspiration, I joined along with the current Color Throwdown color challenge:

Thanks so much for visiting ~ I hope you have a great weekend!
Be Sweet ;)

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a trio of bright poppies 20

Hi there! I finally did it! I pulled the trigger and painted on a large canvas for my home :) I painted the trio of bright poppies on a 24" x 24" canvas inspired by a lesson in The Beauty of Oil Painting book by Gary Jenkins.

I reworked each poppies several times before moving on. I can step back and see where I need improvements but for now, I'm going to hang this one proudly on a wall in my home :)

I'm joining along with the Paint Party Friday site:

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Be Sweet ;)

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luminescent pastel poppies 32

Hi! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! I'm trying to paint everyday so the brush strokes and color combinations become second nature. I recently attended a costly art workshop at Scottsdale Artists' School. As I was trying to justify the cost in my mind, I realized I did learn valuable information even though I didn't walk away painting like Monet ;) Probably the most valuable pearl of wisdom I learned was that one may attend workshop after workshop from all the masters in art but you still have to put in the time and practice, practice, practice. I relate painting to nursing and think of how scared to death I was more than 20 years ago when I first graduated from nursing school and was responsible of taking care of multiple patients at a time. After all those years of experience behind me, it has become second nature and I'm really hoping painting will be the same, second nature that is. Hopefully it won't take 20 years before I can proudly hang a piece of art that I painted in my home :) 

Today I have a 12" x 12" gessoed art board to share featuring a couple of luminescent pastel poppies inspired by a lesson in The Beauty of Oil Painting book by Gary Jenkins.

The poppies were rather challenging for me. After the third attempt on each, I decided to call it a night and move on. 

I'm joining along with this month's Creative Carte Blanche creative art adventure where the theme is Winged Things.

I'm also linking to the current Paint Party Friday post:

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Be Sweet ;)

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luminescent pastel tea roses 31

Hi there! So happy the weekend is here! I've been practicing my rose painting skills. I keep reminding myself that several of my favorite floral artists not only studied art in college but they have also been painting for years. Gary Jenkins has more than 40 years under his belt! He's not only a wealth of knowledge, inspiration but he's also an amazing teacher. I referred to one of The Beauty of Oil Painting books by Gary Jenkins as I painted these luminescent pastel tea roses:

I REALLY struggled painting the pink rose. I think I started over 5 or 6 times. One of the great properties of working with oil paints is that if you are not happy with your work, a little turpenoid will erase it right off your surface! :)

The base background was painted using acrylics and all the rest was painted using oils on a 12" x 12" gessoed art board:

For color inspiration, I joined along with the current Scrap Africa Mood Board Challenge:

I'm also linking this to this week's Paint Party Friday post:

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ I hope you have a great weekend!
Be Sweet ;)

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