What is it about blue and white porcelain filled with flowers that is so appealing?
I often look for excuses to buy flowers for my collection of blue and white. Sometimes Saturday seems excuse enough.
When I am not arranging my own flowers I am often in the mood to paint them and the Waterlogue app was a great inspiration for watercolors.
My need to abstract things seems to have won out.
"Blue vase" 24 x 24 oil on canvas by Kerry Steele
If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen a muted, neutral background as the start of this painting. The first picture below is a detail of the neutrals.
I used a large brush loaded with French blue and white to paint the vase and added layers upon layers of energetic color to depict the overflowing blooms.
Just like in life I wanted to capture what I love about a vase of flowers. Tiny bits of neutral in varying color peek around the edges, playing shadowed light. Hints of green and yellow like the folded leaf or wide, overripe blossom dot the pinkness. Sometimes abstractions seem like a kid making up their own language that only they understand. I know that only I see things through my lens I can only hope my abstract visions of pretty things translates to you too.
