The making of the Magnolia Tree

The painting of the Magnolia Tree is part of the Best Onondaga County Trees Photo Challenge, an interactive art project funded by the individual artist commission grant from CNY Arts where I ask Onondaga County residents to capture the best trees they can in our county find and send their photo suggestions to me at mariarizzoart@gmail.com. Starting in March 2014, every month I pick one winning photo that I use as an inspiration to create an acrylic painting. Throughout the year I will choose 8 photos and create 8 paintings. The submission deadline is October 31st. The 8 winning contestants will receive written credit and the 1st limited edition print of the painting based on their photos.

  

The photo of the Magnolia tree from Tully, NY was taken by writer, Deborah Goemans and it's the 3rd winning photo selected for this challenge. Below you will see the development of this painting,  step by step and how my social media followers played a big part on the final result of this acrylic painting.

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The steps in approaching this piece were as follow:

1) I drew and blocked in the shapes of the branches and flowers with Raw Umber;

2) I painted the background with a couple of coats of mid-dtone color. Instead of using the traditional  brown color (Burnt Umber) I decided to recycle a color I had left in my palette from a previous painting, a mixture of 25% Cadmium Red and 25% Raw Umber, 25% Gel matte medium, 25% water ;

3) After the surface was completely dried (circa 5 min.), I blocked in the top portion of the sky, which was made with 80% titanium white, 5% Windsor blue and 5% Ivory black, 5% Gel matte medium, 5% water.

4) I painted the biggest flowers and the top flowers with a light pink tone made with 40% Cadium Red,  30% Titanium White, 20% Raw Sienna, 5% Gel matte medium, 5% water;

5) I painted the branches with 70% Raw Sienna, 10% Winsor Blue and 10% Primary Magenta, 5% gel matte medium and 5% water, and I introduced some lighter values to build dimensionality;

6) I applied the darkest hue of the flowers and to achieve that color I used 40% Primary Magenta, 40% Windsor Blue and 10% Raw Umber, 5% gel matte medium and 5% water;

7) I applied a pink mid-tone color to the flowers and added lighter hues on the end of the petals by glazing transparent coats of 30% Veridian, 20% Raw Sienna, 5% Primary Magenta, and 15% Titanium White, 15% gel matte medium and 15% water;

8) I coated the branches with transparent brushstrokes of green (40% Veridian, 40% Raw Sienna, 10% gel matte medium and 10% water).

9) I continued painting the sky on the left lower side and I gradually increased the blue.

10) I highlighted all the branches on the background with 70% Raw Sienna, 10% Winsor Blue and 10% Primary Magenta, 5% gel matte medium and 5% water, and I defined the branches on the foreground.

At this point, I was stuck.

 I really liked the red on the background but it looked unfinished that way.

I thought about covering all the red and just create a copy of the photo (boring, right?) or about saving the red, somehow. Creating a more surrealist and dreamy piece.

So I asked my faithful friends and fans on facebook what they thought I should do.

I received many responses and they all had the same answer: KEEP THE RED.

So, I did.

I left my perfectionist, kind of tedious way of approaching a painting to embrace a looser, more enjoyable painting style. Instead of copying exactly the photo, I listen to my gut and this painting took a truly distinctive direction.

I created glazes of 15% Windsor Blue, 25% Titanium White, 10% Primary Magenta, 25% gel medium and 25% water to build a misty effect.

I will share a couple of comments I received on facebook:

"STUNNING Maria! Best ever......"                -Clare Willson

"Love the colors, wants you to walk beyond the flowers to see what's on the other side"   -
Patrice Soltau

Deborah Goemans will receive written credit and the 1st limited edition print of this painting on Thurday, December 11th at the opening reception for the exhibition "Symbolic Tree" at the Onondaga Free Library. This art show will display the 8 paintings inspired by the Best Onondaga County Trees Photo Challenge and the Community Symbolic Tree.