Wednesday September 30. A new sunflower painting.

The image I chose to use is this one photographed last week. I start with that image including the computer generated variations. I like it because, especially when darkened, it takes on a menacing aspect. I certainly like the ambiguity.

Because I don't want too graphic a result, I messed up the canvas panel with some remnants of paint left on my stay-wet palette. A messy ground loosens the mind a bit.

I had a pot of brown mixture left from a painting done a few weeks ago and quickly blocked in the main tonal areas. Some white was also used to start sorting out sky areas between shapes.

I did more sky, using one of the darker photos to concentrate on contrast.

The more realistic original photo was used to get at least some of the lighter tones within the main mass.

The sky was lightened with a pink mix and some thin cadmium red was used to add colour throughout the painting.

The last stage involved more white in the sky, a blue wash to darken some areas and a red wash to build up the intensity. At no point have I looked for the natural colour in the original photo. The mood is everything. Yet again I shall stay away from yellow.

A few years ago I was doing a lot of sunflower paintings. The ones I still like are those where the mood and drama are more important than the prettiness of the blooms. I like a hint of threat as in this one-

And a sense of being lost in the undergrowth-