Lotus buds

[littlebeech]

Nice to be back,

I have been busy doing some preparatory work for some more flower paintings. At the pixelio-website I had found some photos of lotus flowers and liked them so much. Here is the first painting of two lotus buds.

The reference photo:
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/22-Apr-2008/130259-Lotus_photo178302_at_pixelio.de.jpg

And this is what I did:
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/22-Apr-2008/130259-lotus_buds_oil_pastels.jpg
(in the photo the colours have changed a bit, e.g. some of the light pink has gone http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/22-Apr-2008/130259-schulter00051.gif , also the contrast is a bit stronger, the white of the right side of the buds appears a bit too white, yet the whole image comes very close)
heavy drawing paper, "underpainting with VanGoghs, then Senns and Neopastels; some detailed work at the end with Koh-i-noor Triocolour coloured pencils in dark red and dark green)
Blending was done with my new colour shaper set (the hard version is called clay shaper here). I had to put lots of layers :D.

C&Cs very welcome :wave:

[Pat Isaac]

Just beautiful, Beate. I like your strong color and the dark background. Great water drops...You have developed the petals with fantastic detail.


Pat

[Artchrispy]

I really like the light/ dark contrast and the highlights on the leaf and buds. All your edges look great and I prefer your background to the RI. Looks perfect to me. Great job!

[AngelaF]

Beautiful colors. Nice glow and contrasts. I like how you handled the background. Great job. What kind of paper did you use? How do you like it?
Angela

[Teiokerahte]

Wow I love these colors and contrast! Absolutely Georgous!

[Paulafv]

Beautiful painting. Monet would be proud.

[Scarefishcrow]

Nice to see your work again Beate. These are just lovely and so beautifully rendered.

[littlebeech]

:clap: thank you for your kind and overwhelming words . Honestly, when I started to put down the first layers I wasn´t sure if I would finish this painting at all. It didn´t want to look the way I wanted it to and first I didn´t know what to do with the background - a real challenge it was. I´m surprised myself about the result and I´m happy you like it, too. :clap::clap::clap:

Angela - the paper is a drawing paper from a sketch book. I have no details, but I´d say it must have about 140g compared to other papers I have. It has a little tooth. I found it in a little art store here in Dresden. The owner goes to Prague (capital of the Chech Republic, which is near) from time to time and buys small amounts of these sketch books personally from a bookbinder there. He will have to buy more now as I like them very much. There are transparent pages between the sheets like in a photo album. This works especially well with the oilpastels! They come in different formats and I was told I could order special formats, too. And the price is unbeatable. I haven´t found anything like this in the big art stores.

I´m just about painting the second lotus painting, fighting with the same initial problems :evil:, but whenever I feel lost I will look at the buds.

So see you soon :wave:

[truck driver]

wow, great drawing, great flowers, great water, really nice.
RG

[AnnieA]

This is gorgeous, Beate! The light shining through the leaf, revealing the delicate veining, is very dramatic and the flower buds themselves are beautiful. The water in the bg is nicely done too. The painting is far better than the photo. Great job!