Art in the Making by Jenny Armitage

Tulips, Jade, and Books (watercolor 8 x 11) $100.00

Our house is covered in floor to ceiling book shelves.    So it was really only a matter of time before the shelves showed up in one of my still lifes.  This time they feature only as a reflection.

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The Opening (watercolor 10 x 11) $150.00

This is one more painting from my Valentine’s Day bouquet. In the clear glass vase the lilies are much softer and less dramatic. I emphasized the soft back-lighting.

The palette is only slightly different than Lily with Carnations. I added dioxazine violet which I substituted for phthalo blue when underpainting the lilies. Dioxazine is a good pigment for underpainting because it is strong, staining and transparent. Violet is warmer than blue, so the lilies are warmer too.

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Afterglow II (8 x 9 watercolor) $60.00

Here are another three cone flowers from last Fall’s garden. This time I painted them during my gallery shift.

I altered my painting techniques a little from Afterglow I. I under-painted the petals in phthalo blue before over painting them in opera and dioxazine violet. I under-painted petals in phthalo blue too. I think the under-painting does add to the the three dimensionality of the flowers.

I also added dioxazine purple to the palette, working it in to the cones and the petals.

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The Magic Bowl II (watercolor 9 x 9)

I wasn’t entirely satisfied with Magic Bowl I. One on the things I thought lacking was textural contrast and I found the paperweight that formed the center of interest to be a weak point in the painting. The daffodil provides both color and textural contrast. I also gave the background more texture and contrast. I like the result much better. And it keeps the abstract design feel I was aiming for in the first painting.

I painted the bowl conventionally working from light to dark beginning with the daffodil and moving on to it’s myriad of reflections. I used hansa yellow light, winsor orange, cadmium yellow and cobalt blue for the flower. For the bowl I used phthalo blue, cobalt blue, cadmuim red, winsor orange and burnt sienna.

For the background concrete I applied several layers of burnt sienna and phhtalo blue. I salted each layer separately. Salting which is exaction what it sounds like (you sprinkle salt on wet paint) cause irregular lighter areas where the salt sat.

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Daffodils with Marbles (watercolor 8 x 8 inches)

One more still life of daffodils. This time I cut to the chase, just the daffodils and the vase.

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Short Story II (11 x 11 watercolor) $225.00

Same song,

Second verse,

Should get better,

But it’s gonna get . . . .

Actually I like the second verse better.  The dark background gives Short Story II a punch that Short Story I lacked.  And I admit that painting the pine cone magnified by the paperweight was just plain fun.

The palette for Short Story II is the same as Short Story I.  I used more transparent glazes in building up the forms.  And I mixed the paint on the paper rather than the palette.

The deep background began as a burgundy mixture of burnt sienna and quinacridarone deep red rose, but the didn’t provide the depth I was aiming for.  So I followed it with several dark  washes of phthalo blue.  Afterwords I had to correct the glass reflections to match the background.

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Short Story (10 x 14 watercolor) $175.00

It’s Spring here and my first daffodils are blooming. I’ve painted them here together with some of my favorite glass from the sun room. The box is an old cigar box I bought on Ebay.   I like the look and smell of cedar cigar boxes though I neither smoke nor like the smell of smoking.

This is the first traditional still life I’ve ever done. Placing and lighting the objects increased my respect for the art of still life. And I’m tempted to play with glass and flowers again soon.

I enjoyed painting the contrasts in texture between the wood, glass, and flowers. But if I try this again, I’d like to do something with a more dynamic composition.

The techniques I used were very straight forward. I reserved the highlights in the glass and then painted wet on dry, from light to dark. I used three blues, cobalt, phthalo, and cerulean. I used two reds burnt sienna and quinacridone deep red rose. I also used three yellows, hansa light which has a greenish cast, cadmium yellow, cadmium orange. I also used burnt umber to help darken the cigar box.

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Flower Doll Ball (7 x 11) $50.00

This summer by daughters made dolls out of toothpicks flowers and buds, a game handed down to them by my mother. Here is a selection of their dolls in dramatic sunlight.

It thought the contrast between the deep shadows and flowers would be striking. But I was unhappy with the painting when I thought I’d finished it. Despite the dark shadows and bright colors, it looked curiously flat. After pondering a day or so, I painted the background a cool light gray made from the left-overs on my palate. It worked– white highlights popped. And it’s done.

The palate is new gamgee, hansa yellow light, phthalo blue, cobalt blue, quinacridone deep red rose and opera (also a quinacridone). Most of the colors are mixed on the paper.

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Garlic on Blue (7 x 10) $35.00

I’ve been doing framing and back to back art shows rather than painting lately.   And lucky for me the shows have been too busy for much painting, but here is a little still life I snuck in.