Bridges Florence July 24, 2008

Acrylic on Canvas 20” x 16”

This is the final stage of the under painting. Finishing the lower shops was a lot of work, but I enjoyed exploring all the details of the interior views of the windows with the shutters open. I found architectural details such as walls and stairways as well as drapes, lights and even a view all the way through to the store window in the front of the shop.

With this last section completed I went back over most of the piece with washes to adjust tones and color and refined several details. Many people have mentioned how much they like the sepia toned paintings, so I am going to do a print of this stage before I start adding color.

Hope you enjoy the process.

Bridges Florence July 22, 2008

Acrylic on Canvas 20” x 16”

I have now finished the under painting on the roof of the bridge and the upper shop windows and walls. Again, paying close attention to the individual shutters, tiles and porch details. The different colorations on the shutters are in anticipation of their final colors. Working on this picture has caused me to start seeing more details in the construction of the early turn of the century buildings in our area.

Well, one more row of windows to paint them I’m on to adding color.

“Garlic Scape, Allium Sativum”

Acrylic on Gessoed Paper 5”x7” $95
http://www.bulmanfineart.com/
Rick@BulmanFineArt.com

Even with all the different flowers blooming in the garden I am still fascinated by the garlic.

We grow several different types including this subspecies: Ophioscorodon, with its wonderful, characteristic 270 degree curl. It’s a very useful plant with its attractive blue green foliage, unusual flower spikes and edible bulbs and flower tops or scapes.

It is also an insect repellent so we grow it all over the gar5den. One of my favorites is a “top setting” variety that produces small cloves instead of flowers; these can be picked and broadcast over wide areas. Interestingly, the cloves are not true bulbs, but clusters of leaves. Another oddity is that they are planted in late fall for harvest the next summer.

We’re working on reaching garlic self sufficiency but we use so much it’s hard to do. We use the dried cloves in many dishes and put the scapes in the blender with olive oil for use in cooking or whatever. One of my favorites is a piece of toasted sour dough bread with a little olive oil and butter rubbed with a fresh clove of garlic; the bread acts like a grater and it produces the wonderful garlic bread.

“Orange Nasturtium, Tropaeolium”

Acrylic on Gessoed Paper 6”x6” $95
http://www.bulmanfineart.com/
Rick@BulmanFineArt.com

I’m happy to be back to painting after a very busy week. I worked on a 3 day show at a park about an hour south of here, completed 4 new pastels for a plein-air invitational show and packed and sent 50 pieces to a new gallery in Atlanta and also had a dear friend from Alaska come and spend a few days!

Everywhere you look in the garden now there is something blooming. This week there are lots of shades of purple, red and pink in the flowers of the Rose Campion, Lambs Ear, Astilbe and the elegant Clematis vines.

The nasturtiums are growing and blooming profusely in a variety of colors. A cheerful looking plant originally from South America, the make a good cut flower and young leaves, flowers and unripe seed pods add a peppery flavor and beautiful color to salads.

“Orange Asiatic Lily”

Acrylic on Gessoed Paper 6”x6” $95
http://www.bulmanfineart.com/
Rick@BulmanFineArt.com

It is a warm and misty day with a soft rain falling off and on since the big thunder storm last night. This will be good for the garden after our stretch of warm weather.

This lily is the same one that I painted last time but after doing a similar painting in white I added color washes heightened with translucent white. This layering of the colors produces some wonderfully rich color and depth. I use the same technique in a lot of my paintings usually starting with a sepia under painting to build the black and white layer on.

As I have mentioned before, the deer love to eat the lilies; but fortunately we have enough in the garden for both the deer and us to eat as well as some for cutting. The thick, succulent petals have a sweet, nutty flavor and are exceptional in salads. They are also interesting with pasta and mushrooms. Some folks use the 2-3 inch long flower buds of daylilies as a substitute for asparagus.

“Black and White Asiatic Lily”

Acrylic on Gessoed Paper 7”x5” $95
http://www.bulmanfineart.com/
Rick@BulmanFineArt.com

A bright orange Asiatic lily, it is one of the easiest to grow and earliest to bloom. We grow three or four different types successfully. Unfortunately the deer love the blossoms so depending on their activity we sometimes miss many of the blossoms. One large pregnant doe has recently been regularly moseying through the garden just eating flowers and strawberries. Some years they never touch the lilies, some years they eat them all!

I used a couple of small brushes and a semi-transparent white paint, applying it thicker for the highlights and thinned down for the shadow areas leaving the black background for the darkest lines. The thick petals are sprinkled with an elegant pattern of small black spots.

“Big Leaf Maple Seeds”

Acrylic, Pen and Ink on Rag Paper 5”x8” $95
http://www.bulmanfineart.com/
Rick@BulmanFineArt.com

These are the green seeds of our native Big Leaf Maple, a deciduous tree that grows all around the area. It has beautiful large leaves in summer some 15” wide or larger. It has spectacular fall color and in winter the bare silvery branches contrast with the evergreen firs and cedars. The tawny winged seeds hang in long chainlike clusters and fall spiraling to the ground in fall and early winter.

These were fun to draw and paint because of the unusual angular stems. I rarely get an opportunity to draw any straight lines or hard angles when working with plants. We are having warm and sunny days and the spring blooming plants are all setting seeds and the summer blooms are starting up in force.

Happy Summer