Bougainvillea

So you may have noticed that I took a little time off from painting.  Let me tell you why.  I hurt my back and its been hard to sit, stand, lay, move, hold still, etc.  I think you get the idea.  I've not felt like trudging out to the studio to do any painting.  What I've felt like is, well, horrible.

But on Friday, I started feeling a little better.  I made it out to the studio.  On the side of the driveway, next to the door to the garage, is a bougainvillea plant.  It's got these really nice magenta flowers on it.  I gave it a quick study and then off I went to give a try at painting it.  Actually I was trying to film it too, but that didn't go well.  (yes, you may see Dabfly Arts videos soon)  What I came up with, you see on the side.

I did it all with a number 2 paint brush and a couple of watercolor pencils.  I've been watching videos again (i know, that can be trouble) and found something that was mentioned in passing in several, but not highlighted in any.    If you hold your brush back past the bulge of the barrel, you can't paint with any real detail.  You are forced to think more about basic shapes.  You, unless you have the steady hands of a brain surgeon, won't be able to work in tiny little places and wont be able to put in tiny little details.  You'll be using a slightly larger muscle group and as such will only be able to make larger strokes.  The thinking is that if you can only make larger strokes, you will force yourself to try to reduce whatever it is you are painting into its basic elements and only paint them.

I tried that with these.  What I got was, ... , well, kind of a mess, but kind of really nice.  I can see how holding your brush so far back changes how you paint.   I think I'll explore this a little further.

Oh, and I guess I should mention that I did add a few details with a watercolor pencil.

Thanks for the view, hope you enjoyed it.