Shell Ginger

I thought I’d have a ago at some Jean Haines style painting today by painting a shell ginger flower.  The flowers are white on the outside and yellow and red in the middle.  Take a photo from the right angle and the flowers look like they’re laughing at you, with two teeth showing.  I’m not sure anyone would recognise this as shell ginger though.  Some people probably think it’s a bird.

Colours today were rose dore, Prussian blue, both yellows (transparent and Indian, because I wanted some green and some orange), viridian green, burnt umber and a bit of titanium white.  Viridian is making its debut.  It’s the first time I’ve ever used a green from a tube.  I though I’d give it a go as it has a great turquoisey hue that I would struggle to get from blues and yellows.  I expect it will replace cerulean blue in my palette the next time it’s cleaned out.

The Jean Haines influence is there in the energetic background with the diagonal stripes, the undefined white and orange buds on the far left and in the middle respectively and the soft edges on the right hand side of the main flower (which could be softer).  The white flower has ended up impressionistically grey, which would be good if it wasn’t so dark.  In fact, the main flower itself is the worst thing about the painting as the rest of it looks great.  The greens in the background are really good with the the supposedly cool transparent yellow looking really bright and sunny and the approximately complimentary reddy orange contrasting well against them.  The twigs have come out well too, probably because I was trying to hold the paintbrush at the far end rather than the end nearest the paper.  I guess I could have left more white showing: that’s a pretty common theme with me.

This one has been cut up to use as collage material.