The Drama Queen takes up centre stage.
Like most drama queens, this lily desperately seeks attention. She attempts to push her petals to the front of the bouquet, just hoping to steal the spotlight from the roses and daisies and other florals in the vase. Again, in drama queen fashion, she exaggerates her gestures.
Her attempts to seek attention might be in vain. The roses are confident that they will be noticed, and they have surrounded the lily as if to say, we outnumber you!
The lily’s elongated petals are like arms ready to take a bow after a grand performance. Or they might just be suffocating the roses, telling them to get out of her way!
You decide.
About the title.
Like most other artists, I find it a challenge to title my paintings. But I do have a few tricks to simplify the naming of recent florals I have been painting. I will save that for another post.
While there is nothing wrong with the initial title, Midsummer Bouquet, I wanted something with more pizzazz. A title with Drama Queen in it is more memorable don't you think?
This process of intuitive painting involved many changes.
While I did like the roses in the second photo above, I felt that all the flowers were too similar. I had painted a lily in the previous floral and decided that this lily would be pink. A friend from the east coast had sent me photos of her beautiful lilies and I used those as inspiration. I tried to refrain from getting too detailed by using big brushes.
Eventually, it was obvious the lily had become the focus and was trying to grab attention from the other flowers. I thought “drama queen” captured this painting’s feeling.
Some artists state that it is easier to have the title in mind before beginning to paint. It would be worth a try. So far though, I let the painting suggest the title as I work through the process.
About the painting.
This is an acrylic painting on 20 x 20 gallery wrapped canvas. The sides are painted to match the front.
Although I did have a rough sketch before I started painting, the bouquet did not follow the sketch and took on a life of its own. I am learning to let the paintbrush decide what it wants to do.
The background is painted a deep blue/black to make the flowers pop. Also I wanted to try a darker background than "The Flowers Remembered the Sky". There are so many colours in this intuitive painting but some of the more obvious ones include quinacridone magenta, sap green, cadmium yellow, cadmium orange, light blue violet, and green gold (a favourite).
As summer comes to a close, what have you been painting?
“The day is an empty canvas, the shapes and colors are yours to choose.” ~Alex Noble
Other florals...
Dear Louise , thank you for sharing your wonderful bouquets. It’s always a pleasure to watch them. And I want not forget to mention that your Lily is really a “Queen”.
Thank you Birgit. I don’t know if you have a similar expression in German as “drama Queen”. This is someone who exaggerates and brings a lot of attention unto themselves. Everything is very emotional. Big feelings. That is a drama Queen. And that is why that lily reminded me of the expression. Happy September!