Bird & Sunrise photo

Bird & Sunrise photo
Because "someday" is today!

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

The Beauty of Translating Photos to Paintings

My favorite combination of elements is finally here, warmer weather plus longer daylight hours equals flowers to photograph! Here are some of this year's spring photographs from our backyard that served as the inspiration for three springtime paintings. 

First of all, crocus and daffodils, those bravest of early flowers daring to lift delicate blossoms out into the cold air.


Photo of first flowers to bloom this year, crocus and mini-daffodils ©2019 Tina M.Welter



Solid purple crocus blooms, photo ©2019 Tina M.Welter



Small 5x7 inch purple crocus painting ©2019 Tina M.Welter
"Little Gems" painting

 I followed their example and dared to try a different technique, printing my photo of the dark purple crocus onto watercolor paper instead of drawing it. I discovered that the moisture in my paint made the printer ink melt away and I would lose my place. It was ok to try, the color values were easy to match, but I think I will stick with drawing in the future because my pencil lines stay put!

In the front yard, female Western Tanagers stopped to snack on the crab-apple tree buds. I know now that these little birds will only stop by for a day or two so I don't hesitate to take a photo of them if I can. I felt really lucky this year to have these little birds visit on a sunny morning with no wind.

Female Western Tanager stops by for a snack of crab apple buds, photo ©2019 Tina M.Welter

 


Small 5x7 inch acrylic painting of a female Western Tanager ©2019 Tina M.Welter
"Golden Visitor" painting
One of the beauties of painting is being able to emphasize parts of the subject you like. For example, I could highlight the colors of the bird more in my painting than was captured in the photo.

The tall daffodil corner doubled this year with two lovely blooms per bulb instead last year's one bloom each.

Four tall single bloom daffodils, photo ©2019 Tina M.Welter


Small acrylic painting of three daffodils, ©2019 Tina M.Welter
"Heralds of Spring" painting
 Tall and stately, with their natural trumpet shape suggesting  that they are announcing it's officially springtime, I thought they were perfect subjects to paint for an Easter card.

A new landlord arrived this spring too and unfortunately, he wanted all of my flowers moved away from the house. :(

Flower bed with all my spring flower bulbs removed, photo ©2019 Tina M.Welter

 

Over several long days digging, I managed to get them all into containers, making my own Tina's Flower Ark on the patio. The next challenge will be figuring out how to arrange them into a smaller garden area. 

My rescued flowers in containers on the patio, photo ©2019 Tina M.Welter

One surprising silver lining did occur from moving all the flowers. I had only seen one faded bloom on this iris bed two years ago. I took two thirds of the bed apart in March, but ended up leaving the remaining third to remove later. I was so surprised when these iris formed dark purple buds and started blooming in April!

The last third of the iris bed remaining, photo ©2019 Tina M.Welter


Surprisingly early blooming purple iris I had to move in April, photo ©2019 Tina M.Welter

Here they are, still blooming even after moving them into this temporary pot made from a potting soil bag. Talk about blooming where you are planted! I learned that the iris bed had been too full of roots and needed to have some removed so that the plants would bloom again. So many good life lessons from an elegant iris plant!

Happy creating,

>^-^< 
Tina

1 comment:

ymanning said...

Tina, I am so very impressed with these paintings from photos! I especially love how you brought out the colors on the bird -so Amazing! I’m glad you have been able to save some of your flowers and to have that iris bloom where it was planted was such a great comment for life. Love you - keep up the great work!