Next New Lil' Painting

The continued work on small pieces has given birth to this strong piece. I thought perhaps this painting would be good to use as an example of how effective liquid frisket is and how it is softened and finished.

Here, on the left, I've already applied the liquid frisket ("Pebo" is my favorite brand). In fact, applying the frisket is what I do right after finishing the tracing or sketching of my image. I've already painted, glazed and completed a good level of detail at this point and am ready to pull off the frisket. You can see evidence of a few places I've just begun to remove the frisket (it's a mid-value gray color) in the top right quadrant.

In the finished piece you can see where the frisket has been removed. The hard edge whites that are revealed have been softened with a mildly damp brush edge and many whites in dark areas have been glazed in Aureolin Yellow to create glows.

The final stage involves darkening shadow areas and balancing colors. In greens I've put sparks of red (the compliment to green) and along the closed poppy pedals, I've used green shadows to bring the pedal tips forward as well as bring some green into the dense orange areas. This helps unite and balance the piece.

This dynamic image was inspired by my neighbor, Pat's, parade of orange blossoms that dance in front of her home all the month of May. There may be another parade of paintings coming because I really enjoyed the simplicity with such striking results. Hope you enjoy her too.

As usual, would love your feedback - AND - again, I'd love ideas for a title. So far, all I've come up with is "Pat's Poppies". Too many "p" sounds for me. Let's keep thinking, ok?