I tried to warn you, the sunflowers have become an obsession! (grins)

This one is not yet finished... I have some things I need to tweak and add, but I'm pleased with how it's coming along and I have learned so much from painting this.

30" x 24" oils on canvas

Hi Shaz

Looking promising and good to see you back on track.

I am guessing the painting has a little more width on the right

thssupp

Neil

A beautiful painting, Sharon. Superb work. You deserve to be pleased with it. Pierre

Beautiful Shaz. Very well painted. I particularly like the colour and hightlights on the vase. Well done.

That is an impressive piece of work Shaz, are these conventional oils or the water soluble ones.

The flowers go off canvas on the right as you see here, Neil, that was intentional. Also cutting off the vase at the bottom of the canvas I feel brings you right into the flowers and seems to pull the flowers+vase to the foreground.

I wanted to leave space on the left in order to play with the light on the wall... I have more to do on that area and also on the petals of the flowerheads.

Pierre, thank you, you are very kind and your comments are always much appreciated.

William, thank you so much for your kind words. I should tell you that I am a person who really doesn't have a clue what she is doing but has a lot of fun playing anyhow! :D

Ken, thank you that is very nice of you. Yes, for this painting I used water soluble oils.

Usually I use traditional oils, but by mistake when I was looking for vermilion I picked up the wrong type in the shop and didn't realise until I got home. I knew the art store would change it, but after consideration I felt it was a great opportunity to experiment. I therefore returned to the store next day and bought a whole bunch of watersoluble tubes! (puzzz) (grins)

More sunflowers arriving tomorrow - can't wait! (zorro)

12painter (thumbs) (thumbs) LOVE this a lot Shaz, makes me want to dust off the oils I have to tell the truth

Looking good so far Shaz thssupp although like Neil I thought this might have been cropped to show here as the flowers look almost cut off on the right.

The light patch just to the left of the vase looks a little strange to me, but your excitement and engagement with the subject is very obvious.

(claphands) (claphands) (claphands) Fabulous Shaz, and the two tone background works beautifully on this one, it brings all the colours together! Love it! (loveh) Sylvia

So how did you find the water solubles then? I'm thinking of dipping a toe in the water or should that be oil so to speak.

Thanks everyone for the lovely comments. (blowxx)

I love experimenting and the best part to me is the process... I get so much from just painting, the end product is really of secondary importance - although of course, it is good for me if it turns out partially ok :lol: .

Quite often I get real excited as I get part way through and then end up wrecking the whole thing - I cannot say I have ever painted something that I am happy with or even proud to show, except maybe once.

But as I say, it's the actual act of painting that thrills me most and with every painting comes the memory of when I created it and how I felt. That's the very best thing.

Ken, in answer to your question, I really enjoyed using the water soluble oils and found them not so very different from the traditional oils. Mostly I have been using them quite thickly from the tube but I understand you can buy mediums to use with them too. They are easier to use because of the ease of cleaning up brushes etc, but I miss the smells associated with the traditional oils. :D I would urge you to try them, you are sure to love them. thssupp