Climbing clematis

Our son, Pete, has an amazing clematis plant in his garden

which is growing up a piece of trellis.  I've taken a couple of photos of it

and it really is this amazing colour
(I promise I haven't used an outside source to enhance it).
Now, that really is an amazing colour, which I have tried to do a painting of.  Infact, 3 paintings each with a different style.  I know which version I prefer, so it will be interesting to get some feedback and see what others think.  They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.....and like so many things I would expect varying opinions on this, all down to personal preferences and styles.


So here's the first one:

Not exactly a botanical painting!, but an enjoyable exercise which made me look closely at the flower - it's shape, then the shape of each petal, the colour (difficult to get exactly right, but who does) and again waiting for the paint to dry before putting on a second wash of the same colour.   

Note: I have found that when putting on a second wash of colour you need to ensure the first wash is completely dry - or you get the inevitable 'bloom' as it dries.  To help combat this, (especially if you are not sure whether the first wash has totally dried throughout), if you make your second wash of colour less watery and with more intense pigment then 'most times' you can avoid the 'bloom'.  The reason this helps is because the second wash of paint is 'heavier' than the first.

As with all paintings, it is sometimes  just trial and error, influences such as room temperature, type of paper used, even  the make of paints can have differing results.  So I would say, try out some colours on different papers and also at different times of the year - it can all help to understanding 'your own work' and the 'way you personally want to work'......

and since I am going on about the paints these are the colours I have used in all 3 paintings:

SAA - Cadmium Orange

SAA - French Ultramarine

SAA - Sap Green

and

Cotman Winsor & Newton - Dioxazine Violet

I've set them out here plus the brushes I used:

and the second painting:

 

A little looser in this version and can you see the 'bloom' at the bottom of the painting (no pun intended!).  On this occasion I was quite happy for this to happen, as sometimes it helps with the overall effect.

and the third:

A much looser style - lots of water used here.  Again, I waited for the first layer to completely dry before adding to it, but dropped in extra shades of these colours to draw the eye to the top of the painting, where the viewer can journey their way around the painting : and 'work out' the story of this flower.

I hope you have enjoyed this and
look forward to your thoughts!