Tuesday, March 31

Flower Bouquet (Creative Tuesdays)


Here's my interpretation of Creative Tuesdays' theme for this fortnight. Phew! So glad I got it finished. What a saga, let me tell you. Initially, I had bought some irises to use for a still-life but by the time of getting around to actually drawing them, they had already withered. So, Monday morning, I dashed about to various shops looking for another bouquet, to no avail. Luckily enough, I had taken a few photos on my phone days prior and with some other online references, used those instead. 

Considering my last foray depicting a flower, I thought: 1, Right, best stay away from oils with the limited time left! 2, Only use photos for a vague reference since I'm better off "interpreting" than literally representing, becoming too quickly bored and impatient, as it were; And 3, Use water colours this time round! Well, as you can tell, the last option didn't quite pan out—I couldn't find any! (Alex no doubt absconded them for her CA trip to help bring her brother back here.) Not to be deterred, however, I finally settled on pastels... obviously.

While not as finished as I would have liked, considering all that's going on the home front, it's the best I could muster. At least I did it though, right? :) So, how about you? 

Now, onto the reveal to find out who else completed this assignment. Must say, can't wait to see your various entries! Thanks for joining in, or even if just following along. :)

(BTW, new theme will be up Wednesday night on CT's blog.) ADDENDUM: NEW THEME up (finally) on C.T. ! HAPPY... But it's not as easy as you might initally think. Check it out!


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26 comments

  1. I love it!! You are so talented.. I wish you wouldn't be so hard on yourself because every one of your works is framable! I feel like you've been adding in portrayed emotion lately as well.

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    1. Aww, thank you, darling. You sound like Alex there on that first bit. Hahaha. Um, portrayed emotion? Wait, I thought that was all I did?! :D thank you for visiting. LOVE you.

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    2. Oh dear me! Case in point: I just realised that the big petal behind the main flower was actually meant to be the front flower's petal. Silly me. got into the painting more that I forgot to pay attention to some of the details like that. Now that petal looks far too big in the background! Grr... Oh well.

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  2. Oh nice! I love this one. I had to laugh about your irises wilting. Glad you found a way to do this.

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  3. How about asking everyone to draw what 'happy' means to them? Could be a cup of tea, a sunrise, a favourite food, a flower. Just think of things that make you happy, which should be fun in itself.

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    1. LOVE that idea. Tea is so me. :) thank you. May well do this.

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  4. Those irises just spring right off the page in those gorgeous vivid colours. I could have your page open on my computer and feel I have flowers in the room. I laughed imagining you chasing around looking for a replacement bouquet. Dedication indeed!

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    1. it was no laughing matter, let me tell you. and i cut the saga short for brevity's sake. lol. Well, yes, quite the hoot now I suppose. Thakn you for your comments. :) I used photoshop at end to help op the colour more.

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  5. Michael,
    Just love these. The colour jumps off the page. I was so excited and happy when I clicked on this site. And I know what you mean - I don't have the patience to be "exact" either so ad-libbing works for me too. Your shading is also very exciting.
    Thanks again for the link up. This has been great to give myself a time-line. I am going to do this with all my other projects.
    Blessings,
    Janis

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    1. I'm so with you, Janis. I need CT to help me have a deadline or I won;t get any art done. Glad you are finding that helpful and thank you for your lovely comment too. :)

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  6. Michael, Michael, why are you so hard on yourself? You did not disappoint! I love the soft pastel colors you used. Simply beautiful! I too like to "ad-lib" as Janis said. That's what makes your piece unique. :-)

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    1. even if the flower petal is messed up as per comment to my rachel? LOL. Well, I used photoshop at end to pop colour as pastel on its own was rather washed out. Wish I could have made it that good just with original but thank you. It is a nice end piece, will say. It's like my other work-- alex always tells me, it doesn't have to be perfect! lol.

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  7. Very beautiful Michael . One of my fav Spring flowers you have done. I added two today.

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    1. Well, as I have not done many flowers before I will still take that a compliment. not one of my faves but so glad you like it. Thank you, Carol Ann. :)

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  8. I think it turned out wonderful! Marsha LOVES them! :) Oh, and about the watercolours....I don't know what you're talking about! Hee ;) Well done, Michael James! xx

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  9. I like the colors - the blues and the gold backgrounds. I myself would done terribly with pastels but you did a wonderful job.

    hope you have a lovely day.

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    1. Well I had to touch it up in photoship when done to help satrurate the colours as it was looking rather washed out but the still, using pastels on a larger piece of paper really really helped! thank you. The blue/purples and gold. yellow were deliberate design choices as those are of course complimentary colours. Thanks for point that out, Lissa.

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  10. Very nicely done. I love the brightness of it.

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    1. my fave part too Whisky haps. :) thank you.

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    2. Sure thing. You are your wife have a lots and lots of talent.

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  11. Hi Michael, this is beautiful! I'm so sorry I missed this C.T. I just got back into California; I'd been going to New York to see my family for Easter, but I went almost two weeks early as my Grandma passed away. She was a hundred years old. In any case, I look forward to seeing everyone else's bouquet work; I especially love the lavender toned blues of your flowers in your entry. Excited to see what our next theme is at C.T. Good wishes to you, Donna

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  12. 100 years old?! Wow. Well, at least you know she lived a long fruitful life, right? I am sorry though for you loss. I hope she was a good grandma? I never knew either of mine but from the sounds of it, not sure I would have wanted to any way, well, not in their latter years at least sad to say.

    Anyway, Donna, now that you are back in CA I hope you have a unique, wonderful eastertime with loved ones there doing it in a very Donna like fashion. erhaps an Easter Marsupial is in order? :)

    And yes, ha, you pointed out the FAVE part of my own painting here too. Thanks for noticing. We all missed having you here.

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  13. Irises - purple in particular - are some of my favourite flowers. Although I've always found that purple is a bit of a misnomer. It's almost a midnight cobalt colour and I love it. So beautiful with the pop of yellow.

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