Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Purple Loosestrife

"Purple loosestrife is a very hardy perennial which can rapidly degrade wetlands, diminishing their value for wildlife habitat".

I was intrigued with the angle and composition of the purple flowers surrounding this local pond and thought it would make for an interesting landscape painting. I decided to do some research to learn more about the flowers and quickly realized it is like an invasive weed, the flower is called Purple Loosestrife.


I took this photo several years ago and used it for a demo painting during one of the workshops I was teaching. I was not pleased with the outcome of the painting and put it away, hidden in my paper file.


Over the weekend I pulled out a variety of photographs to use for small encaustic paintings and I decided to re-use this same photo hoping I would be happier with the outcome. I also decided to re-work the watercolor I had done, using black ink to exaggerate the design of the composition that I found so interesting when I first photographed the pond.

"Ware Pond", 18" x 24" watercolor and ink


Below is my encaustic version of the same pond. Now I actually like my re-worked watercolor better than the new encaustic version. Maybe in a few years I will feel like reworking the encaustic (but I doubt it!)

"Purple Loosestrife", 6" x 6" encaustic on panel


2 comments:

  1. Hunh. I'd be hard put to choose as I like them both!

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    1. I have to admit, it's been educational for me to interpret the same thing in 2 mediums, Sherry.

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