Petunias

Teacher Painting

"Petunias" 11 x 11" Oil on Canvas by Richard Robinson.

This study was painted with a textured acrylic and oil background, left to dry and then painted over with oils. It is a study of shapes, subtle colour shifts and edges as much as it is a study of your own ability to stay focused on a seemingly simple subject and not get lost in the details.

Resource

'Petunias 1' 8x10" Oil on Canvas by Larissa Svinoukhova

Yours too is a very nice effort Larissa. It's good to see that you have made one of the flowers an obvious focal point. Your tones and colours are good and I also like the way you have been a little more flamboyant with your background colour–a little more strength at the bottom and more obvious brushwork adding a little more interest. There are one or two things that bother me a little. The three flowers in a fan shape towards the bottom right corner are all too similar in size and shape. The other thing is the unopened flower that is sticking up in the top right corner. It looks at odds with the rest of the painting. Better to have put it more within the other flowers and to have sloped it to the right, not the left. ( Have a look at Richard's one.) Working on a bigger canvas may be better for you too." - John Crump Thank you John for your insightful comments. Much appreciated! You can see John Crump's own paintings and instructional videos at www.johncrump.co.nz - Richard

Resource

Resource

Resource

Resource

Resource

Resource

Resource

Resource

Resource

Resource

Resource

Resource

Resource

Student Painting

'Japanese Anemones' 6 x 6" Water Soluble Oils on Canvas by Candi Hogan

Some very nice colour Candi. Good to see some leaves in there too. I would like to see a little more variation though in your background. You will have read in my general comment about overlapping some of the flowers to help form a focal point. However, I did not mean that you form a bunch quite as tightly as you have! They need a little more breathing space– perhaps some gaps here and there. I think it would be good for you to try working on slightly larger canvasses. 6" x 6" is very small and immediately limits the broad brush strokes that flowers 'thrive' on!

Student Painting

'Petunias' 11x11" Oil on Canvas by James Delk

A nice painting James. Good tonal work, very nice colour, and the brushwork looks easy, competent.Three things you could look at in the future. 1. Which flower is your focal point - the tallest one or the one on the left? They are competing with each other. 2. Hard edges shout for attention - soft edges are less strident! See how the far edges on those two main flowers are leaping to the front. Make closer hard, more distant slightly softer. 3. Avoid making halo effects with your brushstrokes. See how your brushstrokes in the background go around the flowers, stems, etc.

Student Painting

'Petunias' 30x30cm Oil on Canvas by Marisa Comana Pessina

This is a very nice piece of work Marisa. Very sensitive tones and colours on the flowers that work well with the warm russet colours in the background. You have a similar problem to the one I mentioned in James' painting–you have two flowers competing to be 'number one. 'It's good to see that you have run one of the flowers off the edge of the painting but you may also notice that those particular two flowers at the bottom right corner are a matching pair. Much better if they are different in size, or set at different angles, or perhaps one in the shade and one catching the light–anything that makes them look different would be good. I do particularly like the two dominant flowers–they are very well painted.

Student Painting

Flower Study 11x14" Oil on Panel by Thomas M Sarradet

Thomas, the flowers in your painting have a lovely fresh feeling with good tonal work and nice colour. The background colour you have chosen at the top of the painting works very well around those flowers but it would have been better if you had carried more of that colour down towards the bottom edge. You can see that those top flowers sing but those at the bottom simply can't match up. My other comment is that you have spread their stems too far apart and given a feeling of disunity at the bottom of the picture. They would've been better, looking as if they came from a common source and some of them painted a darker tone so that the flowers felt as if they had something solid holding them up.