Elizabeth Reoch

January 29, 2014
by Elizabeth
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Poppies

Poppies in Acrylic – Steps to loose painting

I combined my ability to depict realistic Poppies in acrylic paint with fun and intuitive brush work. This painting is about design and texture. The warm colors give it a rich and cozy feeling. The loose bush work adds intimacy.

Artists spend hours practicing their form and ability to depict real objects. The struggle sometimes comes in letting go and playing with their brush and paint. Painting with loose brush work is intuitive and personal. It can however be learned.

Steps to loose painting

First choose a realistic object to anchor your painting. Place it in an area of your composition that gives it the focal point. Plan and sketch that focal point as usual. Once comfortable with the look and feel of the focal point stop relying on the source inspiration and visual references. Glance for color and texture references. Trust that you know the form you are painting and begin moving your brush as you would when sketching. Focus on your painting and not what you are painting. Play with the textures you can create with your brush. The final step is to balance your focal point with the composition as a whole.

October 26, 2013
by Elizabeth
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Flower Guide in Watercolor Series

It was an art form to create botanical flower guides in the 19th century. Cataloging and identifying different species of flowers was a distinct pastime. I was inspired by this art form to make my own flower guide in a watercolor series.

I began to create my own flower guide due to a love of flowers and nineteenth century literature. In Jane Austin’s “Pride and Prejudice” Mr. Darcy was asked to describe an accomplished woman. A woman proficient in the arts who could maintain showcase gardens and identify flowers while walking with their love interests.

“A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, all the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved.”

The challenge was to paint flowers in the simple floral guide style while adding a modern perspective to the old fashion art form. It was important to emphasize the shape of the leaves, colours and flower petal to correctly identify the different species of flowers. The background needed to be kept simple hence maintaining the focus on the details of the flowers.

October 26, 2013
by Elizabeth
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Trillium Watercolor

Trillium Watercolor Painting

I chose to paint a Trillium watercolor painting for my Flower Guide series for sentimental reasons. They grow in Montreal during May and June and are the flower of my home province of Ontario. All Trillium species have three leaves, three petals, three sepals and three-parted stigma. Two members of the Trillium family are depicted in this watercolor painting. The Large-Flowered Trillium which is the best known of the species grows best in damp soil in wooded areas. It has large white waxy blooms and the stem grows 10 to 18 inches in height. The Nodding Trillium is similar but the bloom can be either white or pink. It bends or curves down, sometimes below the leaves.

Pickering where I lived as a child was full of Trilliums and it was the first flower I knew how to identify. Children were told that they would receive a ticket from the police if caught picking the flower. Once the flower has been picked another bloom will never grow back on the same plant.

Layering wet paint in the background to ensure sharp clean lines around the white petals and prominent leaves. I used two complementary colors to also give an antique and traditional look to the painting.