Brandywine Roses

8X8

Oil on Canvas

Reference Photographer Daniel Edmondson

When Daniel sent the Brandywine Roses photographs to paint I thought there was no way I even wanted to try them. After a few days I began looking at sections of the roses to see if any small section would be appropriate. I found this one and decided to paint it only after I cropped and flipped it. Then I painted on it several hours, but didn't like the way I had designed it and s the roses were much larger in my painting (5 inches across for the largest one) than I was expecting. So... I scraped off as much paint as I could thinking I would gesso it and paint something else sometime. Daniel looked at my cropped picture and said 5 inches would be about right so I dug out the canvas and started again. This time I didn't try to redesign it with well-shaped roses, I painted it with the spent rose, which probably adds a little character. Daniel said putting the green leaves in the middle rather than at the edge as I did heightens the drama. I like that description.