Monday, April 23, 2018

Wild at Heart

Wild at Heart
12 x 12 oil painting
 by Pat Fiorello
SOLD


This bouquet painting was commissioned by a husband in Minnesota for his wife as an anniversary gift. I often get multiple photos and work with each to rearrange and find the best view  for the composition and one that captures the spirit of the bouquet.

 I called this one "Wild at Heart" because of the big succulent plant in front that had so much movement. It was a balance to include it since it was an integral part of the bouquet, yet not let it take away from all the other lovely flowers and berries.








Thursday, April 12, 2018

Ruby Red

Ruby Red
12 x 16 Oil Painting
by Pat Fiorello
$650

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 Soft, luscious roses in this beautiful ruby red glass vase were the subject for this painting. I had started it last weekend in a workshop with Dennis Perrin but didn't finish it. Below are the set up and a work in progress shot.  It's tough to go from working from the live set up  under particular lighting conditions to finishing a painting from photo's or just responding to what's there. Once you start changing one thing, then it requires other changes because every shape, color, value in the painting relates to everything else.  With oil paints, since you can make changes pretty easily ( as compared to watercolors which are much more difficult to alter)  it's tempting to want to change things, but you also run the risk of losing the freshness or sacrificing something that was really working for something less.

 I did make one pretty significant change which was in the background. I enriched the color a bit and reduced the contrast in value from top to bottom. There still is a gradation from dark to lighter if you see the painting in person it's more evident, but it's not as extreme a change as it was before. I may have lost some of the dramatic lighting that was in the earlier version, but I think the final version looks more colorful with the greenish grey background against the reds and there's less attention on the back flower on the left where there was more contrast before. I also feel the painting has more of a fresh, contemporary feeling and less of an old world classic look and for some reason that just felt right for this one.  Of course, on another day I could have just as easily gone the other way.  It really depends on what I was shooting for. My original intention for the painting was that it feel soft and romantic.

 If there's one thing I've learned about art, there are many possible approaches that can work. You just have to choose.









Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Rose Study- Keira

Rose Study -Keira
8 x 10 oil painting
 by Pat Fiorello
 $300

 
Every once in awhile it's nice to step back from the complexity of a bigger still life set up with lots of elements and just focus in on the exquisite beauty of one simple (or in this case ,not so simple)  flower.

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Easter Blessing

Easter Blessing
8 x 10 oil painting
by Pat Fiorello
NFS
Had started  this small painting the other day in preparation for a larger painting of this subject.

This was my floral arrangement of O'Hara roses.


Initial drawing
Starting to mass in the darkest value


Massing in the next darkest value

Massing in flower shadows and light shapes. I was almost debating whether to leave it this understated and simple/abstracted but then decided to come back on Easter Sunday and do some further refinement of the shapes and added some thicker brushwork, especially in the lights as shown below and at the top in the final image of "Easter Blessing". I was happy with the balance of refinement vs suggestion of detail in the final painting. Enough is there for interest but not everything is spelled out. Also liked the movement of the thicker brushstrokes in the light areas. Wish I could say every painting comes together like this one did. When they do it is truly a blessing.