The Accidental Wildflower Series

'Where the Meadow Fairy Plays'            16x20           pastel             ©Karen Margulis
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Painting a series is a great learning experience. It is a challenge to discover how to take the same subject and create a new and interesting interpretation.  I have a series going that has come about by accident, I am learning so much from these paintings though so I am going to continue with the series. Let me explain...

If today's painting looks familiar somehow that is because I have painted a similar meadow with Queen Anne's Lace many times. I didn't even realize just how many times until I was going through some unfinished work.  I came across several of the same size and composition...all unfinished. They are demos that I started for my Wildflower workshops and demos done for various art groups.

 I find that I choose this particular scene to paint because it helps me illustrate so many of the things I want to share with the group. It allows be do discuss underpaintings. layering. atmospheric perspective, designing a painting and arrangement of flowers, choosing a focal area, finishing marks,  It is just a great subject for a demo. But I don't need 10 of the same painting so I am finishing each one and changing them in some way.

I decided to make this demo painting into a soft early morning  landscape. I added some pearlescent pastel which to me gave the painting a magical glow. I felt like it would be the perfect place for the meadow Fairies!

 For this painting I added yellow flowers by dusting some yellow pastel and pressing it in with a rolling pin.

I ended up brushing out this painting leaving a ghost image. I changed the color palette completely from a green blue sky day to a warm late summer day.

I will be writing a review of my Lake Toxaway workshop this weekend. Be sure to come back also to read my interview with Daily Paintworks. I will be next week's Artist in the Spotlight!