Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Backyard Zinnias


12" x 16" oil on stretched canvas
$195.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

The zinnias in our backyard will only last a little longer and I wanted to try to get in a few more paintings of them. We planted zinnias in two gardens, (one, next to the vegetables, and the other tucked between the deck and the fence partly under a tree.) You may be able to tell that these are the ones tucked away, so they are really reaching and bending for the sun. This painting took much longer than the last post as I went out two consecutive days in order to get the same light. The still life was much easier light-wise, and I could just paint for several hours and not worry about the changing sun. This is so often the challenge when painting plein-aire, whether in my backyard or out in the field somewhere. It is also part of why I like plein-aire, the fun, the challenge, the fresh-aire.

8 comments:

Kelley Carey MacDonald said...

I love zinnias - and love to paint them, too. We only planted 'mini's' this year, and they're less than spectacular. Good for you for getting out there. You captured the essence of zinnia-ness!

Dana Cooper said...

Great zinnias, Pam! My favorite is the red one on top, or maybe the yellow one, or...

Debbi Smith Rourke said...

Wonderful colors. And the background is so interesting too.

susan hong-sammons said...

Love the design in this piece and how clean clean clean you keep your colors. Hope you'll have time to do more before the zinna season ends.

Pam Holnback said...

Kelley, We planted the minis by the vegetable garden, and they're not nearly as spectacular as these giants, and they're in direct sun!

Thanks Dana, the red one was starting to droop on the side petals and that made a much more interesting shape.

Debbi, Thanks. The background is the cement of our house foundation. The deck railings were creating a very strong shadow. But, I thought another straight, diagonal line would fight the stem lines. So, I softened the shadow edges while keeping the color and value.

Karen said...

I totally agree with you about the plein air, so challenging, but that's what draws us back to it!
I loved reading through your weekend with the masters notes...thanks for sharing those. I was especially interested in Skip, as I've thought of studying with him...and David, as he is easily one of the best teachers I ever worked with. Hope you learned so much and had fun!

Celeste Bergin said...

beautiful flower painting, Pam--lovely colors!

Pam Holnback said...

Thanks Susan, I hope I can get another zinnia painting in, too. I went through so many paper towels keeping these clean!

Karen, I really liked Skip's demos. It was so helpful to me to see a plein-aire master!

Thanks Celeste. The zinnias are so colorful. As David L. said, "paint what you see!"