Highway 1 Escape

Before we step up to the easel today I just have to share a bit of our garden with you. Fall has arrived and the nights are so wonderfully cool. A welcome respite from the hot summer we’ve had. The light last evening was so beautiful I wanted to let you join Jack and I in enjoying the last rays of sun skipping across our back courtyard.

AND……. we had almost 3 inches of rain 10 days ago. This morning I discovered our Bluebonnets are beginning to pop up in their beds. These little seedlings will grow to bring us beautiful blooms in the spring. YIPPEE!

The picture above was taken in our garden last year in the middle of March. We Texans go kind of nuts about Bluebonnets, as if you couldn’t tell!

Enough gardening. Let’s get to planting on the canvas. Sunflowers always look so cheery next to a red door. The yellow is blocked in first with mixes of Cadmium Yellow Medium + Cadmium Orange + a tiny bit of MUD and pure Cadmium Yellow Medium. The leaves are then worked around the yellow, forming the blossoms. Please remember, if you would like to enlarge any of these pictures just click on the image.

Dark centers immediately identify these as Sunflowers. The final touch will be to highlight the petals with Cadmium Yellow Medium + Hansa Lemon Yellow.

The Gardenias, a special request by my collector, are a first for me. Growing up in the south I’ve experienced the delightful fragrance many times but I’ve never painted them closeup before. Here goes, the mass of blossoms is blocked in with various aquas, blues and lavenders that will serve as the shadows of the flowers.

Pthalo Blue + Cadmium Orange + Hansa Lemon Yellow + White is used to paint the broad leaves of the Gardenias. Some of the deep blue from the distant ocean is worked into the shadows of the foliage to add coolness.

Highway 1 Escape   18″ x 28″     Original Oil Painting

Bright White highlights the Gardenia blossoms touched by the sun cascading over the wall on the right. Breathe in deeply and you can catch that wonderful scent filling the air in the private courtyard of Highway 1 Escape. It has been so much fun working with our collector and her daughters on this special gift. In the next session I’ll show how we package the wet painting to ship it safely. Have a great day. Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

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