My art project Botaniska is steadily progressing. Earlier I already finished my sketches, my collages and my first series of 16 canvas boards. Today I want to give you an idea of how the second series of canvas boards is coming along + give you an update on my larger paintings on stretched canvas.
My second series of canvas boards consists of 32 paintings of 24 x 30 cm that feature extraordinary plant personalities, cosy garden corners, flower close-ups, potted succulents, and blossoming trees.
After painting the base layers several times – it took me three times to get my palette right – I used more paint than usual to paint the different scenes. At the moment I’m filling in the blanks and adding details and extra layers of texture using oil pastels.
One of the three paintings on stretched canvas (30 x 50cm) is finished (see detail below) and the other two need a little extra TLC colour and detail wise. As with both of them I changed the complete palette twice and I’m still not happy with where they are heading. I just hope I don’t have to go back to the drawing board completely…
This close-up is the finished 30 x 50 cm painting. The flowers seem to drift off the painting thanks to the thick layers of paint. While the colour combinations in this piece were quite outside of my comfort zone when I painted it and while I needed a lot of time to come to terms with it, I can say that I’m truly happy now that I didn’t change the colour scheme in one of my more ‘desperate’ hours of ‘where the hell is this piece going?’
The two largest paintings of this series are the ones who need the most of work still. But they are also the ones that I have worked on the least, so that makes sense. And in my experience the larger pieces tend to finish quicker once I find my mojo and can focus on them exclusively.
Almost 5 months to go until everything needs to be ready for the big reveal next June. So, back to the studio and let’s get cracking!