Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Cactus Flower -- Future Painting


This little beauty was blooming last week, and I thought I should take a picture of it since this was the last bud. I knew it would wilt within a couple of days, and I wanted to get a photo with the cactus backlit.

Why backlit? I have an idea for a painting that involves a night scene with the full moon in the sky and this cactus in the foreground.

I don't know exactly when I'll get a chance to work on this particular idea. But when I do, I'll already have the materials I'll need when flowers are not available. Since it'll be a night scene, I'll be altering the colors, so an exact color match isn't necessary (although I did some color-matching for these flowers a long time ago when I painted a flower from life).

I've sometimes said in artist's statements: I live to paint; and when I'm not painting, I'm thinking about future paintings. That last point is what I was doing today: collecting reference material for the day when I'll need it.

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