Although I have been concentrating on landscape paintings lately, there are times when I take a closer look in the landscape and pick out some details. The seed pods of these hollyhocks I had in my garden intrigued me very much. Their shape is exceptionally beautiful and intricate and they have a paper thin texture.
It took me a while to find the right fit for them in my way of painting, I did not want them to look too realistic, yet in order to capture what intrigued me there needed to be some detailing.
To add some sharpness to their brittle appearance I used charcoal that I washed over with a very fluid layer of white paint. With that,an element of chance is added to a painting because you can never predict how exactly it will work out. I find that I really like to invite chance into a painting as a way to open up the process. This painting is build of many thin layers of paint, allowing earlier versions of the seeds to show through, they are set over a pale blue color field that softly melts into the surrounding background color.It's a 20x24", oil on linen.
