In the Studio: White Mums – I

White Mums features a blue and white vase with white chrysanthemums (of course). Unlike most of the flowers I use, these were not from our garden but store bought from a charming little flower store in the local super market, ha.

I love the way light plays with the surfaces, especially the depth and luminosity of the vase and how it contrasts with the mum’s flat, light absorbing leaves and stems. There is also the added elements of the mum’s spidery white petals and the glossy granite surface of our kitchen island. Of course this painting hardly looks anything like what I have described. But it will.

The picture above shows the first four steps of the painting. I don’t know how many more step there are to go (the is part of the mystery I love about painting). All my paintings start will an under drawing. That is the bones that all else hangs upon. After the drawing come color washes for the background to give me a middle tone, then lifting color for the lights, and blocking in a solid under painting that will give the painting depth and glow at a later stage.

I will be doing quite a bit of color modulation in this piece. My hope is to create a painting that will feel solid yet light and airy, and full of subtle color shifts.

I can’t wait to see what happens. When finished I will post a complete painting demonstration on the Michael Adams Gallery Web site.