Day 19 :: HYDRANGEA BLOSSOM :: #30in30 Painting a Day Challenge

HYDRANGEA BLOSSOM
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

This pastel is born from some place I didn't know I had in me. I spent the day in hard physical labor in the glorious September sun meeting some fantastic people and chatting and laughing and talking about and selling perennials at a fundraiser. My daughter fell out of bed last night and when I went to check on her she was laughing. I had to be up and at 'em early, so to say the least I am tired. 

The kids in bed, I went into the studio. How odd and lovely to hear the clinking sounds of dishes being finished by my supportive husband so I could get my painting done for today. (I really did marry quite well.)

When I painted the still life of pears earlier in this challenge I spent time working on making something like a pear look painterly and interesting. When the pear was interesting enough I had to then make the bowl and the background also interesting, but not be competitive unless that is what I wanted. The process included decisions, debates, deliberations, trying color, making adjustments and changes.

In class I often discuss how simple subjects can only be painted well by accomplished painters. It's much more difficult to pull off a single anything on a simple surface or background than it is to paint a marsh resplendent in sunlight and shadow in full bloom with reflections and and and and....Like my fun-to-paint colorful full-sun marsh paintings. 

And so I have been thinking of this hydrangea that my dear friend gave me on Monday. She said it was the sole blue blossom remaining on her hydrangea bush. My friend so kindly said seeing it that morning reminded her of my wedding 10 years ago, and she wanted me to have it. 

It's lovely now to have this painting which will certainly last longer than her thoughtful gift which will sadly fade. It gave me trouble as I painted it -- with its simplicity and light and shadow. In the end, what made it a success was not thinking of the process as intently but instead thinking about all that was behind the subject. 

Thanks for reading! -kmw