Speckled Rooster - Final

© Ellen Blonder

I always seem to do the background last. One of these days I should lay something out completely before I begin painting, but I don't seem to work that way naturally. I'm happy putting this rooster in a lusher environment that where I found him, wandering around a strip mall parking lot where we went to pick up a take-out dinner in Kapa'a. 

Speckled Rooster 10

© Ellen Blonder

Adding a blue sky always changes the balance, but I can't seem to resist. Getting close to finished now.

Speckled Rooster 7 - Anthuriums

© Ellen Blonder

The last couple of days, I've been working on the anthuriums in the lower left corner. They're actually darker, but I took some artistic license. I may mute them after I've gotten more painted.

Speckled Rooster 3

© Ellen Blonder

Now the fun begins, layering on more opaque paints. This is the last two days' work. The plants all around include anthurium in the lower left corner and a red heliconia. 

Speckled Rooster 2

© Ellen Blonder

This is a quick underpainting of the setting I want for the rooster. With all of his color, I want a pretty dark background.

Anthurium in My Sketchbook

© Ellen Blonder

My friend Jackie brought this to a dinner recently, garnishing a tray of cheese and crackers. I decided to try out my new Moleskine watercolor sketchbook paper with a painting of this. It's pretty impossible to capture the red to green transition.

The Great Valentine's Day Blog Hop

© Ellen Blonder

Chris Chun inspired a handful of fellow artists and me to take part in his first ever Valentine's Day Blog Hop, and you can see the wonderful and varied results on his blog. For an extra treat, "hop" to the other artists' websites/blogs:

The Great Valentine's Day Blog Hop artists
Chris Chun  -  http://chrischunart.blogspot.com.au/
Sharon Himes - http://www.sharonhimes.com/
Gabby Malpas - http://www.mangofrooty.blogspot.com.au/
Peggy Jo Ackley - http://www.peggyjoackley.com/
Patricia Shea - http://patternpatisserie.blogspot.com.au/
Skye Rogers - http://www.skyesthelimit.com.au/
Phyllis Dobbs - http://www.phyllisdobbs.info/
Barbara Johansen Newman - http://johansennewman.typepad.com/designrocket/
Natalie Ryan - http://nataliesketchbook.blogspot.com.au/
Belinda Strong - http://honeyjumble.blogspot.com.au/

Allison Langton - http://www.bigprintlittle.com/big/blog.php

My painting is actually derived from older posts, but recolored in the spirit of the day, because it's a beautiful thing when two hearts find each other in the jungle out there. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Kauai Painting-Final Final

© Ellen Blonder

Well, never say a painting's final until you've slept on it. I woke up still dissatisfied with the way the top half wasn't melding with the bottom half of the painting. The sky is now much darker at the top, and I've worked on the clouds. Took all day to paint it in between the palm leaves, but it was worth it--now it really feels finished.

Kauai Painting-Final

©Ellen Blonder

It's a rainy day today. I'll look at this again in the morning light. I'll see if I can take better shots of it when the sun comes out, but I think I'm done.

Kauai Painting-Day 18

© Ellen Blonder

This detailed shot shows where I'm finally getting to the anthuriums in the foreground; I will continue to work on them for another day. Once that's done, I can finally start refining and adding details elsewhere. The lower right corner was the most unfinished part of the painting.

Anthurium-Final

© Ellen Blonder

I finally added the groundcover plants after all the details on the leaves and spathes. The white flowers on the left actually grow attached to trees in the Allerton Garden in Kauai, but I took artistic license here.

Anthurium-Day10

© Ellen Blonder

I'm continuing to add details to the foliage--a slow process. I'm also starting to think about what to add to the ground.

Anthurium-Day 8

© Ellen Blonder

Painting along, detail by detail, hoping to make progress over the holiday weekend.

Anthurium-Day 6

© Ellen Blonder

Getting the leaves and spathes right is going to take a while. I do marvel at the fantastic variety of colors and shapes in this plant as I paint, but it's a hard thing to capture with opaque acrylics.

Anthurium and Orchid Sketch

© Ellen Blonder

In searching for references for the anthuriums in my painting-in-progress (see posts, below), I stumbled on this sketch I did after a return from a recent trip to Kauai. It was the tail end of winter here, and I was missing tropical flora, so I bought myself an anthurium and some orchids.

Anthuriums are so odd, with those heart-shaped spathes and tiny flowers spiraling around the center spike. I learned there are over 500 species, and that the first ones were introduced to Hawaii in 1889.

Anthurium-Day 4

© Ellen Blonder

Progress is going to be slow on this. Here's a detail of yesterday's work--the fern and leaf above the dove.

Anthurium-Day 3

© Ellen Blonder

Painting on masonite has pluses and minuses. Every detail is as fine and steady as I can make it, but there's no texture of canvas to soften any line. Took me most of the day just to get the detail on the dove, in a 5 x 4-inch space. Maybe it's time for some new fine brushes.

Anthurium-Day 2

It's hard to see what's going on here, but there's a zebra dove on the lower right peeking out from under an anthurium plant. I'm experimenting with painting on masonite instead of canvas. Even at this stage, I can see I'll be able to create finer details. This piece measures about 12 x 24 inches.