Turning something on it’s side

“Orange Poppies on swirls” ©Jill Rosoff 2011, 4″ x 12″, sold

I’m exploring the theme some more.  I like this long, short format, it gives me a whole different set of decisions to make.  Until recently I’d done the poppies on formats that were taller than they were wide.  Their long, narrow stems seem too fragile to hold up the bulbous bulb, let alone the flower when it’s in full bloom,  reaching so far to the sides.  I marveled at the proportion, and so wanted to honor those stems.  I had some 12″ x 4″ wide paper that was perfect for it.  And I’ve done many, many pieces on that vertical format, they are like portraits of long, statuesque figures.  

But for this one, I literally turned the paper on it’s side.  The composition is now about the arrangement of the blossoms, rather than how they grow on the leggy stems.  Its a fun challenge!

Tulip with texture

“Orange Tulip on texture” ©Jill Rosoff 2o11, 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″  framed, $125.00

In the last gasps of tulip season I expanded on the series of postcard-sized tulip ‘portraits’ I did earlier this year, and put them on pieces of paper that are a little larger than the postcards.  Although these are still relatively small works, somehow the flower has become more monumental.  Georgia O’Keefe did a few works like this, monumental-looking poppies, that when I first saw them, in books or on postcards, I thought they were immense, wall-filling canvasses.  When I saw them in person at last, I was amazed to find the were really fairly small, intimate works.  What a feat of design and execution.

This one is more obviously a contrast between flat areas of color, and a very textured background.  And still as I look at it, that tulip is enormous on the paper.  Fun!

Featured Artist! for May & June, on Watercolorpainting.com

Screenshot of Watercolorpainting.com featuring my work!  

Thank you to www.Watercolorpainting.com for selecting me as one of their six featured artists for May and June!  It’s really wonderful to be included!  This is a screen shot I took of their home page.   My watercolor “Icelands” is showing in the “On the Net:  Artist Showcase” window, which is a slide show of paintings by the six artists they are showcasing.  You can see these six featured painters on Page 2 of the site.  

Thanks so much to Greg Conley and Watercolorpainting.com!  And you can see the painting really well in the Tapestri Collection on my website:  RosoffArtworks.

Blue backgrounds with Poppies, and fun things going on…

“Orange Poppies, Blue Swirls” ©Jill Rosoff 2011, 5 1/2 ” x 8 1/2 ”  framed, SOLD

This painting includes a recurring theme for me, the blue background.  The poppies are a recurring theme too.  Right now it’s the background on this one that’s fun for me.  I’ve used blue backgrounds forever, in various ways, most often a rich, multi-layered  (layers of many different colors that meld into the blues) background that’s always been an effective counterpoint to the orange poppies.  Opposites attract.  As I started exploring the intricate patterning more and more, in the back of my mind I wondered whether I was done exploring the blue backgrounds.  But as often ultimately occurs to me, its really a component that I can expand upon even more.  As it should be, really.  And so, voila, a new look at an old faithful friend.

And now!  The fun news!  For those  of you who are on my mailing list, you recently received my announcement about my website. Well, one person on this list is an art business coach who I’ve been reading and following for about 4 years now.  And she wrote, with my (incredibly enthusiastic) permission of course, about the announcement on her blog, Artbizblog, .  To my great thrill, she talked about it in TWO postings on two successive days!  See them at:

www.artbizblog.com/2011/04/click-through.html  and  www.artbizblog.com/2011/04/call-to-action.html

And then to my happy surprise, one of my pieces is featured with five others for the months of May and June on 

www.watercolorpainting.com .  The piece is in the slide show on the home page, then go to Page 2 for the On the Net: Artist Showcase.

Huge thanks to Alyson Stanfield of ArtBizBlog and Stanfield Associates, and Greg Conley of  watercolorpainting.com.

Join my mailing list and receive my announcements for shows and other ‘fun things going on’ by subscribing to it on my website…click on the painting of the Orange Tulips over there in the column on the right, and go to the Contact page.