Work in progress, Step 1
Big Bold Blooms Wild Painting!
workshop with Lynn Whipple
30×24 inches
charcoal, pastel, on white gesso
©2016 Lucinda Howe
NFS

Warm weather in South Carolina this week is making new blooms pop out every day.  Bradford pears, redbuds, Japanese magnolias, blueberries, and dogwoods are blooming in my neighborhood.

I’m still in the process of cleaning out overgrown areas in order to see what areas I can renovate.  In past years I eliminated turf grass in favor of ground covers.  I like the texture and lower water usage of ground covers, but I’m learning a hard lesson about establishing boundaries.  A particularly aggressive ground cover called asiatic jasmine is my biggest headache.  It goes everywhere and hugs the ground so it’s hard to cut or pull out.  I guess that’s what happens when my interests compete and painting takes over.

Work in progress, Step 2
Big Bold Blooms Wild Painting!
workshop with Lynn Whipple
30×24 inches
charcoal, pastel, on white gesso
©2016 Lucinda Howe
NFS

So this week, I’m balancing gardening and painting.  I’m in the third week of Big Bold Blooms Wild Painting! on-line workshop with Lynn Whipple.  This technique combines layers of drawing and painting.  This piece started with a textured white gesso layer.  Then I added gestural pastel drawings, muted color blocks, more intense colors, a dark background, and then another layer of pastel.  There is still one more layer of highlights to be applied.

Work in progress, Step 3
Big Bold Blooms Wild Painting!
workshop with Lynn Whipple
30×24 inches
charcoal, pastel, on white gesso
©2016 Lucinda Howe
NFS

Work in progress, Step 4
Big Bold Blooms Wild Painting!
workshop with Lynn Whipple
30×24 inches
charcoal, pastel, on white gesso
©2016 Lucinda Howe
NFS

I’m amazed how much each layer changes the look of the piece. And even though each layer covers up most of the previous one, the process captures the energy that went into the painting.

Work in progress, Step 5
Big Bold Blooms Wild Painting!
workshop with Lynn Whipple
30×24 inches
charcoal, pastel, on white gesso
©2016 Lucinda Howe
NFS