Hydrangeas at the end of the season remain beautiful.
Hydrangeas are a favourite flower in eastern Ontario (and perhaps elsewhere) because they are low maintenance and provide a great show with very little effort.
My Limelight Hydrangeas in my former home had a greenish tinge added to the white flowers even in the fall when they began to dry up.
The Anabelle Hydrangeas in my present flower beds are pure white, spectacular large globes transitioning to golden ochre later in the summer.
They inspired me to paint them on canvas and add the Blue Hydrangeas that I love so much but was never able to grow.
No painting is too precious.
I went back to 2019 to find the first painting on this 30 x 40 canvas. In the photos below, I asked my artist helper to splash paint around to cover the first floral I had painted on it. Then I added some of my own touches (see right).
The result was Made out of Thin Air published in 2019. The title was from a Jerry Seinfeld quote in his Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee on Netflix.
"Anything that you make out of thin air, that someone else likes, is art." (Season 2, Episode 3)
I was never quite happy with the end result. I felt the flowers were too stiff looking in the vases. Unfortunately, I had covered up all the pinks and oranges that I liked so much from the underpainting.
It's only paint!
And so the next step was to get rid of the painting (again). As I said...nothing is too precious!
I kept some of the greens and oranges from the flowers for the field. The yellow table top would become the sky. I was at the ugly stage in the landscape painting when I decided that nope, I didn't really want to paint a landscape!
I eventually came to like (I take photos of all the art I make) that landscape. The process taught me that I should wait a bit before covering up a painting.
I can’t tell you how long I will like End of Season Hydrangeas. For now, it hangs in the dining room where everyone can see it as they enter our home.
Florals and more florals...
Over the years, I have painted other florals. Some were painted on canvas, others in a sketchbook mostly using coloured markers, and yet others on glass ornaments, or on paper. Contact me if you would like to enquire about any of the florals or if you would like a floral of your own.
Hi Louise, I have loved looking at your paint overs and I especially liked the landscape, but with you not all things last forever, and your finished hydrangeas look fabulous knowing how long you spent on that painting. We were lucky in our previous garden where we were able to grow, blue, white, pale pink and rose pink hydrangeas, and the autumn colours can be fabulous. The only problem we had was that even though they were planted facing the morning sun, with the heat coming from the windows above them they were a bit precious during the summer months and often desperately needed to be watered.I hasn’t realised that you had painted such a variety of flowers, each of them being a different style. Thank you for sharing 🥰
I tend to forget about all the flowers I have done. While I was recuperating this winter from my fall, I had fun with markers and watercolours and have a new collection in my sketchbook. My first love is painting pets. I have the ballerina canvas which I will paint over soon.
I look forward to seeing your new art work in 2022. Until then, I am enjoying all the mouthwatering dishes you post on IG.
Beautiful painting. Gorgeous flowers!
Thank you so much! It was a very long process! 😜
It would take me a lifetime! 😆
You’ve certainly been busy over the years producing such interesting floral works.. A shame about the landscape, it was looking good.
Thanks Vivienne. I don’t think I have painted a landscape since maybe 2017. I am much more attracted to flowers. But my first love is always pets.