Category Archives: “Broken Flowers” series

Thirty in Thirty. Day Six: “Airborne” & Photographing Artwork.

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“Airborne” (Detail) ⓒ  2011 Michaela Harlow – (16″ x 16″ – Oil and Oil Bar on Panel)

“Airborne” ⓒ  2011 Michaela Harlow – (16″ x 16″ – Oil on Panel)

“Airborne” (Detail at Edge) ⓒ  2011 Michaela Harlow- (16″ x 16″ – Oil on Panel)

Today, after a productive late morning and early afternoon in the painting studio, I tried to take a photo of “Airborne” (above). I spent quite a bit of time struggling with my camera until I got the colors right, and as a result I ended up re-shooting “Rose Wood” (the piece from day one). I find it difficult to capture red tones with my camera. I encountered the same problem both with “Airborne” and “Rosewood”. “Airborne” is part of the “Broken Flowers” series, and the reds lean toward rust (with an autumnal-orangey base). “Rose Wood” is, by contrast, a piece with bluish reds, buff and deep browns. I posted a new photo of “Rose Wood” (Jan. 1st), because the one I shot today is more accurate in terms of color, but I am still not happy with it. I love using a camera, and overall I think my photography skills are definitely improving. But I still have a lot to learn about shooting artwork. I think natural light gives the most accurate color, but it really only works on an overcast day.

I took three photos of “Airborne” today because I wanted to focus this post on the painting’s detail. The entire “Broken Flowers” series incorporates drawing— mainly with oil bar, the back of a paintbrush and finger tips— as well as different painting techniques. If you’ve been following and/or collecting my work for a long time, you will remember that I started out as more of a figurative painter. Figures remain a part of my work, but they are usually found in the underpainting, and often obscured —sometimes nearly destroyed— as I build layers on top. Occasionally I will redraw some of the symbols on the surface of the work. With the botanically-inspired “Broken Flowers” series, drawing is important in each piece. You can see more of the “Broken Flowers” series, and other work, by clicking here.

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Studio News: Broken Flowers III is Featured on the Cover of New 2010 Release: “Chaos is the New Calm”…

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Broken Flowers III  ⓒ 2008 Michaela Harlow – (16″ x 16″ – Oil on Panel)


My painting, “Broken Flowers III” is featured on the cover of “Chaos is the New Calm” by Wyn Cooper, from BOA Editions.

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The “Broken Flowers” series continues to develop…..

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Broken Flowers III

16″ x 16″ oil on panel 

(this one is nearly complete in this shot) 

Heavy rain has given me more time in the studio today. I started work early this morning in an effort to complete the first three pieces of the “Broken Flowers” series over the next few days of inclement weather. The color quality of these images is of course limited by screen capability, but in general, they are pretty accurate representations of the work.

Raw umber and burnt sienna dominate the under-painting in these pieces. My second layer of work from the weekend, in hues of mars red and violet, built structural forms. Today, loose drawing, brush work and washes in carmine red, naples yellow and buff titanium began to breathe life and movement into these pieces.

Some of the debris I encounter in gardens at this time of year is jagged and linear. Other remains have delicate and ghostly blossoms, leaf skeletons and hollow pods bleached by winter. The more fragile remnants become animated with the slightest breeze.  You will find evidence of this delicate motion in the buff and naples yellow hued points on the right in the piece above.  Stems and hulls are represented by the broken angles and arching geometry on the left hand side, sweeping through the composition in mars violet, orange and carmine red.  In other pieces, the uppermost colors shift to buff and chalk tones as I draw in lines to represent dry, boney-hulls, stalks and tattered blades of grass. 

 Below, Broken Flowers I and II still in progress:

 

Broken Flowers I

16″ x 16″ oil on panel

(this one too, is nearly complete in this shot)

 

Broken Flowers II

16″ x 16″ oil on panel

(this one is still coming about) 

 

 With more rain forecast over the next few days, I should be able to make headway on the second part of the series as well.

 

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Work in Progress: Broken Flowers, Series II ……………… under-painting stage

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The second group of paintings in the Broken Flowers series are awash in chartreuse atop the raw umber and burnt sienna under-painting.

This group reflects some of the rebirth I am seeing in the natural world along side the decay.

All of these paintings are in progress… only in the second of maybe five stages.  This is a peek at part two in progress.  I will post again when it is complete. 

 

Broken Flowers, Series II, i

16″ x 16″  work in progress

 

Broken Flowers, Series II, ii

12″ x  24″   work in progress

  

Broken Flowers, Series II, iii

16″ x 16″  work in progress

 

The two pieces below are at an even earlier stage in their development… 

 

Broken Flowers, Series II: under-painting

16″ x  16″  work in progress

 

Broken Flowers, Series II: under-painting

16″ x 16″ work in progress

 

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Composition in the new series… and the story beneath the story.

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 Today I continued work on the series I started last weekend… the panels are now in a second under-painting phase.

  

 

In my “other” life I tend to gardens.  When springtime comes around, I use my pruning shears and rake to clear away the debris left behind from last year’s growing season.  The decaying and often skeletal remains of the year gone by are pulled back to expose new life emerging from the ground. Although there is much rebirth and beauty revealed in this process, my job brings me face to face with death as well. The broken and crumpled flowers I remove each year are a stark and hauntingly beautiful reminder of endings in the midst of all new beginnings.

I am calling this series of paintings “Broken Flowers”.   I will post more as the series continues to progress…

 

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remnants of sedum and spurge… some inspiration for the series.  

 

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A new series begins… and at last, the perfect day for a gesso-fest

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 A new 16″x16″ series, “Broken Flowers”, began today;

 here pictured with the raw umber under-paintings drying in the sun… 

 

 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the terrace… 

This tarp has lead an active life this week.

It has hauled debris out of several gardens, and now it protects stonework while I gesso panels outdoors…. 


 

  Later… the 12″ x 12″ panels hard-off in the studio entry….

 

 

 

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