Roses risen

I got to work at about eleven and quickly got down to painting rose leaves and bringing the foreground closer to completion. It’s slow work that requires concentration, so I’m taking breaks for that ginseng tea and occasional wandering nearby the studio. I pulled some crabgrass out of the ground next to the creek and discovered some clover that will be useful for reference later. Of course the clover withered by the time I was ready to paint it, so I’ll have to get more tomorrow. Painting the leaves and grass went well, and I’ll make my usual note here that this is painted en grisaille, so it’s overly bright, waiting for a layer of yellow, green and iron oxide reds to complete the work. It took a long time to get this far, so I expect to spend the day tomorrow doing the same kind of work in order to complete these flowers.

As a break from painting the leaves tomorrow I think I’ll find a ladybird (in America they’re ladybugs, who knows why there’s this distinction. Two nations divided by a common language…) and add a few to the left side roses, and perhaps some aphids might make it into the painting too. I want this to be a painting which people can sit in front of for a long time, discovering its secrets and delighting in them. I guess that all the work is a gift to everybody who looks at the piece.