On the Art of Roses
One of the subjects that I'm currently focused on is the rose. I consider it as one of the most beautiful of flowers and the most challenging to draw and paint. It comes in varied forms, sizes, shapes, colors, texture, and style. Rendering a rose into an artistic form, you can imagine that you can use many shades of color by just drawing or painting a single blossom. I think it deserves special attention to by artists who work on interpreting and magnifying nature's details.
When it comes to painting roses, I'm still on the process of finding which techniques are effective per medium. With watercolor pencil, I start with making simple sketches of every layer of petal.
For a simple sketch, I use three shades of the same color. First, using the darkest color, I shade and define the edges and shadows including the darker areas of the petals. After that, I emphasize the lighter areas of the rose using the same color with the lighter tone, at the same time, leaving a bit of white areas uncolored. The final step is to wet the shaded areas together in order to mingle the colors and thus achieve the final touches of the composition.
The intricate details and nuances of roses is an aspect that really challenges me to draw them. To be able to render them realistically while staying true to reinterpreting them in an honest artistic form requires practice, patience, discipline, a sense of consistency, emotional involvement and careful observation. I also take time to pass by flower shops and observe the details of the blossoms that I see. I also have my little rose garden in our home which gives me a lot of inspiration for my art. I feel a sense of wonder and happiness by just looking at them.
Sometimes, I get a bit disappointed when I don't get the desired effect for the details or the overall composition (disappointment do happen, it's just how we deal with them that matters) but as I go on through the process, I learn to accept my mistakes and discover more creative ways to correct them. It's either I leave them behind if I simply cannot find the solutions, or I go on and find ways to innovate and improve the aspects that need to be given consideration.
Sometimes, I get a bit disappointed when I don't get the desired effect for the details or the overall composition (disappointment do happen, it's just how we deal with them that matters) but as I go on through the process, I learn to accept my mistakes and discover more creative ways to correct them. It's either I leave them behind if I simply cannot find the solutions, or I go on and find ways to innovate and improve the aspects that need to be given consideration.
I find it a fulfilling and exciting to journey to embark on new works and start on subjects and mastering the medium as I go along the way. I am almost always delighted to see every work get finished knowing how much every pencil sketch and brush stroke meant to me as I worked from start to finish. it was a work that comes from the heart and the workings of the mind. Each form is both an analysis and expression; a meaningful whole.
I'm learning everyday and it is a bittersweet life that I live. Each step, each process is always an opportunity, an open door to make more meaningful art and to be a happy, content, and a better person.
