Caraluna

Caraluna
24 x 18 Oil Painting
by Pat Fiorello

As an artist you often hear the phrase, "it's all about the process". Another way of saying "it's about the journey, not the destination". 

This particular painting was a favorite this month in part because of the process. But the process starts way before I ever set foot in the studio. On this particular Saturday morning, I got up early and went over to Cut Flowers wholesale florist in Atlanta. I intended to get a small bouquet of yellow and orange flowers to go in a blue and white container, but when I saw these roses, I fell in love and brought them home too. Once home, there's cutting and arranging the flowers, testing the set up under different lighting (indoor vs outdoor and different angles) and backgrounds ( light vs dark), sketching some compositional options, preparing the canvas and then finally I'm ready to pick up the brush.

The process of creating each painting is it's own journey- often filled with detours and surprises along the way. Unfortunately there's no GPS except for your own instincts and willingness to try some different directions when you feel lost, knowing they may not always head you in the right direction.

Here are a few of the steps along the way:

So that's a bit of the journey on this painting. Hope you like the "destination" as well.

   P.S. The final stage in the process is naming your creation. These roses were called "Rosa Caraluna'" (which according to google translate means "moon face"), so thought Caraluna that might be a fitting name for this one to remind me of the beautiful fresh flowers painted one Saturday morning.