Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Sunflowers - 8 x 10" Pastel

More flowers today. Sunflowers are hard to paint well...makes you really appreciate what Georgia O'Keefe and others have done. The thing that is so beautiful with O'keefe's sunflower, if you take a close look, is the brushwork. Sometimes that feels like a limitation with pastels. I tried to use the side of the stick to create interesting marks, but within the context of the small petals I really couldn't do that. It was hard not to get caught up in each petal, and think in terms of bigger shapes and values. Had fun trying, though.
Well as of tomorrow, I am taking a bit of a vacation. Next post will be in a week. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

8 comments:

Robin Weiss said...

Hi Rhonda! This sunflower seems to be laughing at the sun. nice job!

Anonymous said...

Beautifully done!

Kim Rhoney said...

I have been working on my own series of sunflowers and they are tough. I think these are very nice!

Karen said...

Ohhh I love your sunflower! It has a wonderful feel to it! I really enjoy seeing your pastels!
Karen

Rhonda Hurwitz said...

thanks everyone for the nice feedback

HALL GROAT II said...

Your evocotive paint handling, color scheme, painterly pastel touch, and manner in which the warm tonalities peak through the green is very appealing to my eyes. I also enjoy the irregular configuration of the negative space, in how it echoes the primary form of the sunflower coupled with the background clumps of green.

Mary said...

I think you have done a beautiful on job on this as with all of the work I see here. The movement in the petals and your use of color is superb. Thank you for visiting my blog.

Jamie Williams Grossman said...

Rhonda, I think this is one of my favorites of yours! Beautifully vibrant and alive! Lovely strokes.

Jamie