Contemporary Floral Abstract Paintings, "Wildflower" & "Wildflowers" , Progression of a painting, Original Palette Knife Paintings by Elizabeth Chapman

Progression of a floral abstract 

Commissioned painting

SOLD

Thank you!! Shawna

If interested in having your special order floral abstract created please contact me: 
elizabethchapman@artlover.com

More of these colorful floral can be seen in my Web Gallery: here

 "Wildflower"

Acrylic on 20" x 24" x 1.5" canvas (1 of 2)

 "Wildflowers"

Acrylic on 24" x 20" x 1.5" canvas (2 of 2)

Preliminary Sketch


I was contacted recently for a commissioned painting to be painted very similar to a popular floral that I did back in 2009, titled Mountain Flower which was a set of two paintings of the Columbine flower. The second painting of that set can be seen, here.  The large flower a vertical and the smaller florals were the horizontal canvas. And so, I began by first doing a preliminary sketch from images that I have of those original paintings, just to get an idea of the layout and a feel for it again.

As I was doing this I came up with another idea...

Preliminary Sketch Two

Why not have the large flower as a horizontal and the smaller flowers as a vertical?  I was working with a different photograph than I had used with the first set and felt this was the flow for this set.  I needed to consult with Shawna this new idea before proceeding...I did and she love it!  So, we now had the size of the canvases and the design.  Shawna,  loved the original colors but had a preference for more turquoise, pink and black to be in her set.   Now it was time to paint....

but first..

Underpainting of values  (1 of 2)

I first drew the flowers and then did a quick wash with the acrylics to determine the placement of light, medium and dark values.  This would help me when I got into color to remember to keep my values in mind.  This floral was taken from the upper right part of the photo I was working with.  It is one of the flowers from the vertical painting.

Underpainting of values (2 of 2)

This is the vertical determination of light, medium and dark values.   Once this was decided on, I began working with the large floral first and color, keeping in mind Shawna's color preferences. It was all done with a palette knife greatly exaggerating and abstracting the color.  I finished it in one session, which is my favorite way to work with acrylics as the more paint that is mixed in, the slower the drying time and the more blending that can be done.

Then it was time to do the second painting.....

With this painting I decided on a little bit different of an approach.  I had at first been attracted to the many verticals with the photograph that I was working with, so I  painted the negative space first.  Constrained by time on this day, I was not able to finish this painting in one session.  No worries, the next day I went back in and added some of the greens around the edges giving me some wet paint to blend edges.   Along the way, I worked with edges of the canvas so that this set has the painting wrapping around the edge.

 I sent images to Shawna as I worked....with the final image being the set.   She LOVED them!  Yea!!  These will be delivered to her and in their new home next Friday!

May they bring you much joy!...Elizabeth

Thanks!



www. melizabethchapman.artspan.com