Remembering Grandma

[C_Line]

Xposted from Still Lifes. 9 x 12" on prepped mdf board painted from life. This is in honor of my grandma Tannie. She was a diminutive, gentile woman raised in the beautiful Ozark Mountains. I have very many fond memories of my childhood playing around her house. She had a large, beautiful Hydrangea bush in front of her house and she'd let us each pick one of the big flower clusters - my little sister and I pretended to be brides with our "bouquet". I inherited this Chocolate Set from her and wanted to incorporate a suggestion of the Hydrangea in the set up. All the little saucers are different and very "cuplike".

[Li'l Brown]

Oh Celeste, this is beautiful. Your Grandma would be as pleased as punch

[Katwyld]

Oh, what a beautiful piece, and a touching tribute! Very well done, and very classy looking.

[C_Line]

Okay - so I meant to say "genteel"...where's the spell checker when you need it?!

[Gilberte]

Just beautiful.
How would we call this style, modern classical or classical modern but it's absolutely lovely !

[purplepansey]

You've painted the look of that old lovely china beautifully and the gold looks so realistic edging it as well. I love it. To be honest it looks like a scene from the distant past and you've captured it perfectly.

[Charlie's Mum]

Beautiful!
Character and style well captured Celeste.
Love the 'looseness' but it's also soundly structured. Love the way your style is developing.

[Lulu]

I can remember my own dear mother-in-law with this painting too Celeste. I have looked at it for the longest time, it is just beautiful.

[Aires]

Absolutely beautiful and mixing in a full cup of nostalgia. This reminds me very much of my beloved mother-in-law who took so much delight in beautiful china pieces and flowers. I've always thought it wonderful to be remembered for such thinks as dainty porcelain china and lovely flowers.
Thanks for the memories as well as the beautiful painting!

[oramasha]

Yes, I love the background story and it's a very classy painting. Love the rich background, too.

[PainterDeb]

This is a wonderful painting and almost brought tears to my eyes...I guess I am remembering my Grandma also...

But about your painting, this is just beautiful! You have captured the subject matter with just the right amount of looseness, great job!

If you made prints of this, I think a lot of people would buy it for the memories!

[MRSBB]

As the singer John Denver would say......."Yea Grandma"......Celeste this is just a beautiful painting and memory and it shows in your work.......Lenore

[loobyteacher]

wonderful

[C_Line]

Wow! Thank everyone for your kind remarks - I'm glad it touched so many emotionally - our memories are so important to cherish and sometimes mementos like these can really stir them.

I've learned with acrylics that the less water that you use the easier it is to keep soft edges. Using hog brushes too is a great way to get the softness. Early on I never would have used hog brushes, but now I love them. Also, if you feel yourself tightening up and you're holding the brush like a pencil, change over to holding it like a tennis racket back a ways on the handle - it will force you to be a little freer with your strokes. In this painting, the body of the porcelain was done using lots of transparent glazes though with soft brushes. And then the edges were done with hog brushes. Also, a tip I recently learned was to use gesso for my mixing white - I like it a lot...tends to appear less chalky that titanium white and it's so nice and fluid - so it's good for the glazes in the porcelain as well as using say for skies if you're doing landscapes. Just a couple of tips.

[arl]

Wonderful colours and brushwork.