Sunflowers
These beautiful sunflowers were a gift from a friend, he bought them for me, I thought they were for me, but Albert had a totally different idea! He absolutely loved these flowers and would not leave them alone. He wasn't trying to eat them he would just bury his nose in the brown centers and take deep breaths. I know my smeller is not nearly as refined or sensitive as his, but I couldn't smell anything. This painting came about when he learned to quickly turn away from the flowers and sit down like he had no interest at all in them when I would walk into the room. He really is quite the actor!! As soon as I would leave the room he was back with his nose in the flowers. I finally gave up trying to find a safe place to put the vase and just left it on the counter in the kitchen. They looked great, brightened up the room, and Albert was happy with "his" flowers in a place he could keep smelling them.
The subject matter for this painting was easy, painting the flowers and Albert went well, but the background was really problematic for me. I had a blue background first, prussian blue grayed with a bit of cad orange, and it was horrible!! Then I used a sap green-olive green mixture, not as bad as the blue but it really did nothing for the subject matter. The final results was created by using the same colors that are in the flowers and adding olive green for the dark areas. I haven't used olive green a lot in my paintings but found it as a nice addition to the yellows and oranges. It blends well and compliments without overpowering.
This is Bad Albert in his favorite spot overlooking my drawing table. He knows when I am working on a painting of him and "oversees" my work to make sure I do him justice. If it is a painting that he is not in he faces the other way! He does have a very high opinion of himself, but what cat doesn't?
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