Only the Shadows Remain...

"Pfirschbaum" 11"x 8" watercolor on paper, c. 2013

I mentioned in an earlier blog post that I was going to give the "Royal Iris" painting to our kind landlords in Dresden, the Sobotta family.   Upon reflection, I decided the iris was my favorite flower and I wanted to paint something for them that was more representative of their tastes.   The artwork they had hanging in their home was more abstract than realistic.

In those fall evenings, Dresden has the loveliest shadows from the low, intense red sunsets.  One evening, I noticed the shadow patterns from the peach tree in the yard on the white concrete wall of the stairs just behind the trees.  Aha! Inspiration!  I ran for my camera.

I was a bit nervous since I had never attempted a painting quite like this before.  I chose watercolors because I wanted the softness of the shadows and I struggled a bit trying to get the layers of color not to have hard edges.  Plus, layering blue over peach created some brownish tones that were not exactly what I wanted.

"Pfirschbaum" (Peach Tree) framed

Framing the finished piece on a tight budget was another hurdle.  I re-purposed a gold frame I had been given by spray painting it blue and then hand painting over that with black acrylic.  I then added another final spray of varnish to protect the paint.  The blue underneath matches the blue in the painting, and is visible in the braid work around the frame, which is what I wanted.  Success!

This painting is a departure from what I usually do, the Sobottas were really happy with it, so that is the main thing.  I think I would like to try it again with oil paints, just to see if I would like it better.   Any thoughts or comments?