Circle of Love

Circle of Love
16 x 20 Oil Painting
by Pat Fiorello
 $2000
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“Circle of Love” is the most recent addition to my Urn Series. Flowers and classic urns are two of my favorite things and I love to combine them in my paintings - the natural beauty of organic floral shapes contrasted by a bit of man made beauty.

This painting was inspired by a floral arrangement I created several years ago. I love the flow of the foliage and the color palette seems perfect for this time of year.

Here's the original floral design I created a few years back. I only had the photo to work form. and here are some steps along the way as this painting was created.

 If you would like to add more beauty into your life to give you an experience of being restored from the everyday noise of life and uplifted to a place of greater peace and energy, contact me . I'd love to have a conversation with you to see if we can find a piece of artwork that speaks to you or create something just for you.

Best wishes for a beautiful holiday season!

Red & White Roses

Red & White Roses
12 x 16 oil painting
By Pat Fiorello
$750 

 Saturday, I taught a new one day workshop "Painting Roses in Oils, Alla Prima".

The subject was roses, but the broader lesson was using a transparent color block- in  before adding any opaque colors on top. This helps to keep the colors really clean which is especially important for flowers which are amongst the most vivid elements in nature.

The painting above is my finished demonstration painting. 

But I always have to caution students to be prepared for the end of stage 1 of the process which results in a very garish, bold looking, crazy canvas.

"I know you must be thinking -How is she going to work her way out of this mess?"(see below), but somehow having faith in the process and refining the image in stage 2 focusing on form and adjusting shapes and edges as needed, it all comes together. 

Painting in process at the end of stage 1

Reference

    

Some students at work

This is not the only process I use while painting but one of my favorite which I often use for flowers because it is very fun and freeing.

Some of my rose paintings on display for students to see the variety of colors and shapes of roses

If you'd like to learn more about how to paint flowers in oil, visit my website for the upcoming workshop schedule.

Brighten My Day!

Brighten My Day
16 x 20 oil Painting
by Pat Fiorello
$2000


I had some photo's from  a still life done a few years back and decided I wanted to have a more dramatic feel, so I went into photoshop and converted the original photo to have a dark background. 

Original reference photo

Edited in photo shop to see what it would look like with a dark background, It seemed like it would work so I gave it a try. The dark background gives it a whole different mood.

Garden Fantasy

Garden Fantasy
9 x 12 Oil Painting
by Pat Fiorello
 $425

Mostly I paint from still life set ups, on location or even photo's or a group of photos, but occasionally I just like to make something up from my imagination.

After 25 years or painting, there are certain subjects I've painted over and over- flowers, urns, landscapes, so I feel fairly comfortable bringing that experience to create not what I see but what I would like to see.

I started with a rough idea of a composition in pencil, very loosely sketched, then brought that to a value sketch.  I started by massing in the urn shape and then just built the bouquet inside as I would create an actual physical floral arrangement, placing some of the star flowers (the big garden roses), then adding line flowers and vines for movement and some more delicate shapes contrasting the larger solid flowers. As I moved along, I decided it would be an outdoor scene so added some darks to suggest foliage in the background, but also added a strip of lighter green as sunlit grass to suggest a plane change to the flat ground behind the urn.   That wasn't in the original plan but felt right at the time so I went with it. The plan is just a starting point and can be changed at any point if a better idea comes along.

The result was Garden Fantasy shown above.

Quiet Moments

Quiet Moments
16 x 16 Oil Painting
 $1250


Every once in awhile I have a painting that has potential, but just doesn't turn out as I'd expected. Sometimes I just toss them out, but this one was a larger one that I scraped off with a palette knife. It has been hanging around my studio, unfinished, for over a year.

This week I decided to tackle it again. Looking at what the problems were with the original, I decided I wanted more atmosphere, some more contrast of hard vs. soft edges and to make the flowers a bit smaller so there would be more breathing room around them. The original background was a warm neutral and I decide to go a little  cooler/grayer and less towards brown.

I "oiled out" the canvas with walnut oil and then approached it as if it were a blank canvas, reestablishing where I wanted the shadows and proceeding from there.

I'm glad I saved the panel to revisit this painting. Much happier the 2nd time around!

Original painting scraped down with a palette knife

Garden Romance

"Garden Romance"
16 x 16 oil painting

This painting has a beautiful story behind it. You may recognize it as the iconic bridge at Monet's Garden in Giverny, France.  But to the new owners of this painting, it has much more personal significance. I created it as a wedding gift for a friend of mine, Charles Needle. He's a nature photographer and leads workshops all around the world.

Back in about late 2006, we spoke about the possibility of teaching workshops in Monet's Garden. Shortly thereafter, he started teaching photography workshops there and I  began teaching painting workshops there too. On one of his workshops, he met Missy, a photography student. They became friends and over time evolved into a deeper relationship.

Last year, Charles arranged to propose marriage to Missy on Monet's bridge- an inspired and romantic gesture, commemorating where it all began for them. This week, I am honored to attend their wedding. I created this painting as a gift for Charles and Missy, so that each day in their home they would have a visible reminder of their love story.

 Congratulations Charles & Missy and may you live happily ever after!

Azalea Season

Azalea Season
8 x 10 oil painting
by Pat Fiorello
 $300

 

This was a demo/paint along for my beginning oil painting students at a recent workshop at The Bascom Center for Visual arts in Highlands NC.  On the first day we reviewed  oil painting supplies and did exercises for color mixing and value control. On day 2, we were ready to apply those fundamentals to a small landscape painting- a scene from Callaway Gardens in Springtime.

Before jumping in to the color painting, I had students do an 8 x 10 painting of the scene in just black, white and gray so they understood the value structure of the design before getting "distracted" by color.  Then they did an 8 x 10 in color.
Below are some of the steps along the way to see how this painting unfolded. Worked on a toned canvas, progressing from dark shapes to light, large shapes to small, thin paint to thicker.

For more information on upcoming workshops, check out my monthly newsletter. You can sign up at the bottom of my webpage http://patfiorello.com/

Urn with White Flowers

Urn with White Flowers
8 x 10 Oil Painting
by Pat Fiorello
$300

Two of my favorite things, flowers and urns.  I especially love to paint them together. I've been painting flower since the start- 25 years ago. Have painted many landscapes as well, but even those scenes usually include some flowers for some bright, clean color.

This month marks the 25th anniversary of when I started painting (as an adult-  other than my elementary school experience). To celebrate, I'm going to be sharing how I got started painting and some highlights over the years, as well as a special offer for my followers during the week of 6/15-6/21.

All this will be announced via my newsletter. If you do not currently receive my monthly, 'Bringing Beauty to the World" newsletter and would like to be included, you can simply sign up here.

Garden Hydrangeas

Garden Hydrangeas
16 x 16 Oil Painting
by Pat Fiorello
$1250

    

Spring is in full bloom in Atlanta. My husband cut these beautiful hydrangeas for me from our garden and  I arranged them in the studio. The set up is below.   "Garden Hydrangeas" is my interpretation of this arrangement.

Lately I've been concentrating my art on more of how I feel. It's more important to have a painting that feels alive and shows the paint quality with expressive brushstrokes than to paint exactly what's there. It's freeing to just paint what I want to be there and how I feel about it.  I've summed that up in a new statement of my artistic voice: "Classic Beauty. Alive with Color, Paint and Passion." This is what excites me about painting and what I want my paintings to convey.

Below are some steps along the way to creating this painting.

In June,  I'll be celebrating the 25th anniversary of when I first picked up a brush and started painting as an adult.  I'll be sharing photo's of some highlights and most memorable moments over the past 25 years and some special offers through my newsletters. If you don't already receive, "Bringing Beauty to the World", and would like to you, can easily sign up here.

Thanks for all your support of my art.Whether you are a long-time of more recent follower of my work, I appreciate your interest.

General  size and placement

Blocking in the darkest value shapes

Adding the next darkest value- the shadows

Starting to Block in the flower shapes

Adding a rough block in of the supporting elements

The inspiration from my garden

Celebration!

Celebration!
16 x 20 Oil Painting
by Pat Fiorello



 I've been really doing a lot of introspection lately on my authentic artistic voice and what I want more of or less of in my art. I've been clear for a long time on the subject matter that speaks to my heart - flowers, gardens, beautiful  romantic or lush, sunny places, like Italy, Bermuda, France. 

 This year is my 25th anniversary of when I began my artistic journey and it almost feels like it was an accident, but I know that it was revealed to me as part of my true path and purpose to "create a world of beauty, love and inspiration".  

So I know pretty much what I want to paint and why I want to paint it, but now focusing on the how. Not the "how" as in basic foundational /technical skills. But "how" in terms of expression. The main areas I want to focus on now are having my paintings feeling alive-  having what I'll call "A Life Force" and having visual interest thru paint quality, thick paint,  rich, exciting color and visible, expressive, luscious brushstrokes.

So this was the first painting where I was really clear on focusing on those things and letting go of some old concerns of drawing and getting things "right".  It was really freeing and exciting so I am committed to exploring this path for now.

I consider this painting a "breakthrough painting", one in which you take a clear jump forward. I called it "Celebration" as both a celebration of the joy of flowers and a celebration of my own progress and growth over the past 25 years of creating art.

Below are photos of the initial idea sketched in my hotel room on their pad ( I was on a trip to Melbourne), the approximate set up ( didn't have all the real subject materials so had silk flower "stand-ins"), some of the progression shots along the way and some brushstroke close-ups.

Thanks for you interest in my art!
If you'd like to see more work, the largest collection is available at dailypaintworks.

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Top of the Falls

Top of the Falls
8 x 10 Oil Painting
by Pat Fiorello
Sold

I participated in a Plein Air in Sautee Georgia event this weekend with over 40 other artists. We had to get our canvases date stamped sometime after 7:30 am and then turn in one or more framed paintings of the Sautee Valley area by 4pm for a show opening and awards ceremony at 5pm.

"Top of the Falls" was the 2nd painting I did that day in the afternoon. It is of York Falls in the Skylake community. I have painted waterfalls before from photos, but I think this might have been the first time I painted any falls on location. Not only do you have to contend with the changing light conditions, but the patterns of the water are constantly moving. So it was a challenge to say the least.

I was very delighted to hear my name called twice at the awards ceremony. Once for a Merit Award of Excellence and a second time for the Patron purchase award. The painting was purchased by a local couple who live at Skylake and have fond memories of the waterfall since their grandkids love to go there.

Below are some photo's with the new owners of this painting.

Painting on location

Starlight
8 x 10 oil painting
by Pat Fiorello
$300

In the morning I did another painting of this building called Starlight. I'm not sure if it was a private home or bed and breakfast but I loved the white azaleas n front of the white house.

Below are some steps in the painting process including my initial value sketch which helps me plan out which shapes will be light, dark or in between.

Value sketch simplifies the value structure of the scene.

Starting the initial block in wiht dark shapes