Green Dahlia is hanging in the Chesapeake Bay Watercolorists Show at the Wells Fargo Advisers in the Dominion Towers building down by Waterside in Norfolk. It will be there until December 13 and can be viewed by appointment by calling 757 622-8261. It won an honorable mention in the show.
This flower was part of a Mother's Day bouquet that I received from my daughter Kim. The color was so unusual it inspired me to paint it.
As I started the painting I gave myself some challenges to work on. First of all I wanted to have both soft edges and hard edges. I think that I could have had more soft edges as the hard edges prevail. I also wanted to work my values. I usually have different values in my paintings but they blend together and do not have great contrast. In this painting I definitely have the contrast and I really enjoyed making the lights pop out by being next to the darks.
Setting up challenges is a good way to move your painting skills to the next level. Meeting the challenges is very satisfying. But you need to remember that this is still working your technique and that is only the tool that you use to to express your inspiration.
