Improvements... WIP: Impatiens and House Finches

[liralen]

... this is kinda for annieroo2, as I need a little feedback to see if this is the right direction for her commission for me.



Thought I'd put in all the beginning/intermediate steps, so folks can see how much I fail at the beginning of each of these. *laughs*

So... annieroo2 wanted impatiens and house finches, the little red and gray birds, on a plate. First the study of the leaves, the flowers, how they go together (or DON'T go together in these studies as I did them) and then an attempt at putting them together 'right'. *laughs*

First the studies.



By the last impatiens study, I think I was getting the hang of the five-petal structure with the two-lobe petals, the leaf placement was still a little iffy... as the baskets of them just seem to have the leaves sticking out everywhere... but they have to be connected. Then I did the birds, with one really, too detailed one, and lots of simpler ones, as if they were going to fit on a 9" plate, I should do it so they'll fit with the flowers.



And finally, when I got the bird in the upper right, I was like... oh, I like that... so... here's what I ended up with, the flowers and birds are still too far apart from each other, so I'd normally do another painting, but in this case, these are the models for the plate. Are they recognizable? *grins*



And I'm starting to work on mountains as well.

Comments

[marith.livejournal.com]

Those are neat! I really like the last impatiens-and-finch piece, you can really see the improvement. And I kind of like the wide space between them as well. (Rereading Clover in the new edition and it reminds me how awesome white space is when it's used right.)

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Mmm... the more I look at it the more I actually do kind of like that spacing. *laughs* I'm not at all sure why... but... hee.

Yay! Clover! Neat to know.

[kiria-dk.livejournal.com]

*sighs in happiness and jealousy* You do such beautiful work!

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*laughs* after doing all the crap work to get up to it! Hee. Thank you, so much! I'm very glad that the end result pleased.

[mysocalledhell.livejournal.com]

is it weird that i like the one that's just leaves and kinda disjointed? *laughs*

they're all very lovely.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Maybe! I dunno...

It was fun to paint it. *grins*

thank you very much!

[hidden-gems.livejournal.com]

My G*d, this is beautiful. I'm sorry I can't give you any kind of good criticism because I know nothing about this sort of thing and I can only drool...

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Wow. Thank you! Coming from you that's really something...

Though I guess the techniques are nearly the opposite, aren't they? As with these I just touch the brush to the paper and it takes and I can't go back. *laughs* No fixing things for me! just going ahead and doing the next one...

*thoughtfuls*

[hidden-gems.livejournal.com]

I couldn't do anything artistic without a Undo button so I have a lot of respect for people who use traditional media.

Besides, your stuff is sooooo~ pretty <3

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Awww... thank you!

[archangelbeth]

You are getting so good! That is... cool! You are keeping those studies, right? Right?

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*falls over laughing*

You're like the kids with my recycle pile... They TOOK everything I was going to throw out. All the studies were going to go into the recycle. Do you want them?

[archangelbeth]

omgcouldiwhatwouldyoulikeinreturn???

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Uhm... send back the mailing tube? The mailing tube often costs more than the postage for these things. And I am talking the studies in the first four pictures, not the actual composition of the finches and flowers (as I really do need that to help me fix things on the plate). You're sure huh?

having something fun/cool/little in the tube when it comes back would be neat, too. *laughs*

[rephetibel.livejournal.com]

Oh! I love that you show us the steps to the final painting. I like something in each of them and the end result is lovely.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*smiles* Thank you, so much!

I'm glad you liked the steps, too, as folks kept saying it was impossible to get to the final thing, thought I'd show some steps. *laughs*

[calmingeffects.livejournal.com]

Beautiful of course <3

[liralen.livejournal.com]

<3 Thank you!

[annieroo2.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness this is so much more than I ever expected. I was just thinking a couple a flowers in the bundle with one finch sitting on a leaf or something.

This is... my mom is going to be so touched. No matter what/how you end up getting them on a plate she is going to be so impressed.

I was nearly speechless when I first opened this post. I am so happy I thought to ask you if you were willing to do this commision. This is going to be the best birthday gift I've given my mom in ages.

When you decide on the final composition can I get the practice piece you base it off of too? It should fit in the same box as the plate right?

I think I'd like the back up potential of the final draft just in case my lovely children ever break the plate. Not likely but since the plate will be one of a kind, I'd feel better being able to replace it for her if I ever had to.

Again I can't thank you enough for all this work you're obviously doing. Just send me a paypal invoice at my regular email address and I'll be sure to pay it right away.

*hugs*

You are so wonderful! Thank you!!

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*giggles* Well, it's kind of like all the other compositions I do... birdies and flowers! Hee. It's rather like my sparrow plate, as I liked the flow of that, too.

Yay! Sure, you can have the practice piece that I show above? It'll fit in the same box, but it might get folded a little unless I stick it into a tube or something.

I'll invoice you for half, then? Half on okay of the concept and half +postage when you get the pieces. Makes sense?

*hugs happily back* This is a lot of fun!

[annieroo2.livejournal.com]

I sent you an email from my home address for you to invoice.

Thanks!!!!

*running glomp*

[flit.livejournal.com]

These are all beautiful! I agree with Marith; I like the whitespace on the final study.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

That's very cool to know... *thoughtfuls*