Thoughtful Accumulation

 Nadia se Oranjes 

Yep, Another Orange Gerbera

Nadia is a collector. I can count on her to contact me about twice year with a couple of photos, and the text in the email saying 'What do you think?' And we take it from there.

In November '15 she emailed me a lovely Hibiscus, and I replied with an image of the painting of an orange Gerbera I had made for my cousin. Apparently completely blocking out the emotional carnage of making a complete painting in one colour, and painting 3000 water droplets.. She loved the idea, and I sent her some of the reference photos I had taken for the previous commission - too many to decide it seemed, and they couldn't - so I sent them my favourite three (orange, red and yellow), not at all thinking of painting it, just looking at composition. And they picked the orange one. Naturally. 

So it's coincidentally the exact same flower as the previous commission (very photogenic flower this), but with different lighting and focus point. Interesting challenge.

To make matters worse, I was in the middle of talks with the Popsons burger people, and it didn't look to me like they were going to go for my quote, so I was keen to get Nadia's commission ASAP. 

And they both agreed to their respective commissions a day apart, with the same deadline - end of Dec '15 - the one time of year my husband is on holiday. And it's only Christmas and New Years, and the time to catch up with family and friends.. and rest? Nope.

But I have a couple of years to go before I say no to  work.

This is the previous commission for Linda: 

100 x 70 cm  |  Acrylic on Canvas

And here's Nadia's:

90 x 70 cm  |  Acrylic on Canvas

Pretty cool to see them side by side! (so to speak :)

I struggle to find a favourite between the two, they are so different. I do prefer the dramatic lighting of Nadia's, but vibrance is HARD to do realistically, and there are technical things in Linda's, tiny little details they'll only notice later on, and I like that kind of depth. Both are great show pieces.

You will appreciate that I bought two bunches of Gerberas to photograph, to make sure I'd get something usable. Funny that I'd end up painting just the one flower! 

These photos were taken in my kitchen, best lighting at the time, and sprayed with a little water bottle-thingy that I use to dye my hair. There's some pointless trivia for ya.

Another: This was painted during the heat wave. It was bonkers. You want to mix enough of a given tone to put it on every petal and in every drop of water, and the paint dries before you can say 'It's so hot my brain is melting'. I'd usually start early and work till about 3 pm, at which time the 'studio' turns oven, the brush keeps sweating out of my hand, and my legs are so sweaty I'm slipping off my chair. It was not easy!

For brownie points, Cat being a gargoyle in front of the WIP - after he drank some of my ice water.