ROSE IV - 15 Strokes

WHITE ROSE IV
"8 x 8" on gallery canvas
PROFESSIONAL ACRYLIC PAINTING BY SEA DEAN

To view my Gallery or purchase this painting please visit Daily Paintworks. Larger originals or prints may be available by contacting me.

Triple Load Brush

Loosening up your brushwork - A tip from Nancy Medina Nacy Medina's challenge sounded interesting so I decided to give it a go. I've already created a rose with 50 strokes, one with 40 and one with 30 (below). Now the time had come to attempt 15.

I realized that I had to apply strategy to attempt a rose in 15 strokes. I know many painters use double and triple loaded brushes and so I decided to give this a try. With oil painting a triple is loaded by repeated brushing over the same place on the palette to encourage the oils to mix on the mid zones, with acrylics this would produce flat, over-mixed paint, so as you see I used it fairly raw. I chose almost complimentaries violet and indian yellow. In afterthought I should have used a warmer lavender or lilac.

White Rose VI - 7 Strokes and background

Like yesterday, I started with Ivory blocked in as a base for the petals and wet in wet, stroked the triple loaded brush slowly and smoothly onto the under layer, following the petal shapes. By now I had used about half my strokes. (Illustration) I then worked on my signature energy patterns around the rose which don't count for strokes.

Next, I went back with a smaller brush and added some warm darks and lights to give the petals shape. I was aiming for an expressionist or natural abstract look. A little edging and tidying up the background and I was done.

What I'm finding in this exercise is that every brushstroke must be placed with care. There is no time wasted with fussing and fiddling. I like each of these roses for their own special character. If I had to buy one, I wouldn't know which. Luckily they are all currently still available and I'm happy to work out a special price with you for the whole series including shipping. 

The Series so far - Can be purchase as a set as long as they remain in stock. Can be shipped together. Please contact me.

LEFT TO RIGHT - White Rose II - True Value - White Rose I - White Rose III

Cat 14071 Rose IV