Friday 1 January 2016

Day 2 - Hydrangea with Letter Opener

 
Acrylic on board 16cm x 16cm
 
I decided to continue with the "shiny" theme for now. I thought I'd paint the beautiful silver letter opener I bought at Portobello Road Markets in London in 2014 - but what to paint it with? I didn't want a repeat of yesterday where I simply painted an object that looks like it's hanging in thin air. Prior to deciding on the paper knife, I had considered ditching my "shiny" theme as I was in the mood to paint a hydrangea. Then an idea popped into my head that would allow me to do both.
 
I painted the knife from life but used this photo below as a reference for my made-up still life. I took the photo in December at the Parliament House garden party. I had no idea if I'd be able to pull this off, so I was very excited with the finished piece as I feel it worked rather well. I'm hoping to try my hand at a very large still life sometime soon so this was good practice.
 
 
Check out all the other participants of Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge by clicking here
 
P.S. I have actually posted this at 2.50pm on the 2nd Jan but my blog appears to be registering a west coast US time zone which is around 15 hours behind us.

19 comments:

  1. That is a lovely painting..
    I do like hydrangeas.

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    1. Thanks Margaret, they are amongst my all-time favourites.

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  2. Brett Kibblewhite2 January 2016 at 04:30

    Lovely painting Wendy. Keep up the good work! x

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  3. Hi Wendy,thanks for your comment in my art work,and Happy New Year!

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    1. My pleasure Ricardo and a Happy New Year to you too!

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  4. Oh my-what a fine artist you are! I LOVE your paintings. You are so kind to encourage me-it means a lot! Thank you!

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    1. Thanks so much Debra - what lovely comments!

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  5. Wendy this combination is a stunner. I love your idea of painting something shiny and something organic together, they work beautifully, and I bet you had fun orchestrating it all too. I find one of the most fun things about painting is when I get to invent a story that was never really there. Anyway you pulled off this combination beautifully. I'm still working on my 2nd 30 in 30, just taking a little break for a cappucino and a little browse around at what everybody else is doing.

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    1. Thanks Sally, I really appreciate your comments. Yes, I do very much enjoy composing things from various sources. I am an illustrator at heart and have always done that with my illustrations. I'm just about to check out your blog!

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  6. Just love your shiny theme, Wendy. Your painting is just beautiful. Day 2 was a good day!

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    1. Thanks so much Chris, I really appreciate your visits!

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  7. Dear Wendy - this is an awesome painting. Great job and I love those beautiful hydrangeas. Hope all is going well. Have a great weekend.

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    1. Thanks so much Debbie. All going well thanks - I hope things are going fine for you too!

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  8. Wendy I like your shiny letter opener! You nailed the fragile blossoms of the hydrangea!!! Bravo!

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    1. Thanks Joan, I really enjoyed painting an adolescent hydrangea flower rather than a full-coloured one. They are the most amazing plant. their flowers are stunning from beginning to end and change so dramatically during their cycle.

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  9. Love your painting Wendy. I love hydrangeas, but have only managed to get one of my plants to flower recently. I think my garden is far too hot for them...

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    1. Thanks Sami, sorry to hear you haven't had a lot of luck with your hydrangeas flowering. I keep mine in pots at the back of the house which is south-facing, so they get quite a bit of shade in summer.

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  10. Oh Wendy Hydrangeas are hard to paint and you have done a wonderful job, you are braver than me. I love the detail on the knife too!!

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