Shattered Love

Those who have suffered heartbreaks know it takes a lot of effort to pick up the shattered pieces.

 "When you break up, your whole identity is shattered. It's like death." Dennis Quaid

This is the idea behind this painting...sad I know but I promise I do have a happier glass rose painting idea as well. I just need to wait till the spring to take my ref photos for that one.

My thanks again to Giuseppi Crystal  for sending me the glass roses.

Ona

Shattered Love WIP

 I have been working on the idea for this painting for a couple of weeks now. It was a very good job we had a digital camera for the reference photos for this one because we needed a lot of photos to get the composition I wanted.

I loved the idea of  broken glass rose petals falling to symbolize how shattered  we feel when a relationship breaks up but WOW!!! it's hard to capture the 'moment' on camera. I ended up dropping the glass petals onto a cushioned floor to the count of 1 2 3 drop to help James coordinate pressing the shutter. We missed many many times but perserverance paid off and we managed to get a few good photos for me to use.

I decided to keep the colour palette simple as I had done for the other glass rose painting but this time I have chosen to use pinky reds as they are the traditional colours associated with love. I am working from 3 different photographs as I paint this. Each photo was taken with identical lighting but taking each rose and then the falling petals separately enabled me to then play around with the composition more easily. I am having to change the colours of the roses as I paint them because the roses I have are turqouise and purple. I am currently painting the shattered rose a traditional red. I still have the falling petals to paint but the rest of this rose is almost done.

I plan to make the other rose a much much deeper dusky red, the colour a very deep red rose goes as it is dying. I am sure each viewer will read there own 'story' into this painting. Maybe the deeper rose symbolizes death of a partner, or just merely the death of the relationship.

This painting is relatively small at 21 by 10.5 inches. Its a bit of a shock working small again. Glazing the tiny rose petals is quite fiddly and time consuming so it may take me several days to finish this one.

Ona

Love is like a Glass Rose

I finished the painting today. Painting bigger than full sheet certainly has its challenges but the finished painting, 34 inches by 22 inches, definitely has impact.

so it is...

 

 Our love for each other is a glass rose. If you don't handle it with care and compassion it will break. The thorns and shafts of glass may wound you just as the hurt can wound you in a broken relationship. If you drop it, it will never be the same. A piece is broken and the glass rose will never be whole again.

Ona

Love is like a glass rose WIP 3

I still find it magic when with just a couple of washes something can magically appear out of the paper. This is how it felt with the rose today. The gilt thorns were exciting to paint too. Life just feels better when you have a paintbrush in your hand.

 usually I wait between glazes for the paint to dry naturally but sometimes when you want to control the wash a little more its handy to use a hairdryer.

Time to apply the final glaze on two of the frosted glass petals. 

 ... enough for today I think. It's slowly taking shape.

Ona

Love is like a glass rose WIP 1

It's been slow going glazing in the washes for the background. James took some photos of me this morning as I was doing the final couple of glazes. You don't often get to see me in action (I'm a bit camera shy) but they give you a good idea of the size of the painting.

I don't really paint at this angle. James was just having some fun.

This afternoon I have been on the shadows cast by the broken rose on the background helping to ground the rose without needing to add any extraneous table details.

I'm pleased with the simple uncluttered look that this gives. It should set the broken rose off nicely.

Ona

Love is a Glass Rose

Remember those glass roses?

They are so simple and yet so beautiful, so full of symbolic meaning and yet so delicate and fragile.

Roses have held meaning for us since the dawn of time. Their petals and fragrance almost seem intertwined with our history.  No other flower has been so affectionately held in our hearts.  It is the flower of love and is used to convey the many emotions we have for each other.

so to the glass roses...

I couldn't help but draw a parallel between these stunning and yet fragile glass roses and our relationships with each other. Both are so beautiful when intact and healthy and yet both can so easily be broken by a simple mistake. Our love for each other is a glass rose. If you don't handle it with care and compassion it may break. The thorns and shafts of glass may wound you just as the hurt can wound you in a broken relationship. If you drop it, it will never be the same. A piece is broken and will never be whole again. This is the idea behind my next painting.

I wanted to keep this really simple... the less is more approach, using lighting and colour to create mood. It's going to be a big painting, 22 by 34 inches. For the first time I have stretched the paper and taped it to the board while wet. Hoepfully this will avoid buckling as I glaze in the background washes so I can create a smoother effect. Today I have masked the rose itself and the broken leaf so I can work on the background without worry. Now to begin the first few washes.

Ona

Glass Roses

I had great fun this weekend doing reference photos for one of Ona's future paintings. She is going to use some glass roses in the composition, and Giuseppi Crystal (www.glassroses.com) very kindly provided us with some samples. Each rose is hand made and very beautiful. The combination of shiny curved surfaces, translucent glass and gold accents makes them fascinating (and difficult!) to photograph, so as well as the reference shots for Ona I did a few for myself as well.

I tried a few on a white background, but my favorite is the black, which really lets the roses pop!

James