I took a few liberties with this one ― it’s really more of an abstract impression of a rose.
As you probably know, every rose colour has a meaning, and peach-coloured roses can mean gratitude or appreciation — hence the title of this mini canvas : )
The brief was to design a business card to advertise a self-contained studio flat for rent in Cashmere, one of Christchurch’s prettiest suburbs. The flat is separated from the main property by a fabulous wrought iron gate. I was asked to make this gate the main feature of the design.
For the curious, this is what the gate and geranium sketch looked like prior to adding the red and green watercolours (painted, scanned and edited) in Photoshop:
And for those wanting to visit Christchurch and stay in a beautiful location with friendly hosts, here is the link to the Cashmere Road Studio Flat.
This coming Sunday will be the fourth anniversary of the magnitude 6.3 earthquake that rocked Christchurch (22nd February 2011). Four years on and we are still the City of Orange Road Cones. One sign of progress is the restoration of the Jubilee Clock Tower ― the road cones are now gone and the clock is no longer frozen in time!
The deconstructed band rotunda Retour is still in a sorry state. I have no idea what they plan to do with the dome that has been salvaged.
As far as I know, Christchurch resident Peter Croft is still planning to restore Shand’s Emporium but progress has been slow, apparently due to new city council rules and regulations.
Update: Shand’s Emporium touches down on Manchester Street, Christchurch. June 2015
The Octagon is being repaired and earthquake strengthened, and work is finally underway on Mona Vale Homestead. If all goes according to plan, Mona Vale will re-open in June 2016.
My pen vs earthquake sketches are originally from a student project. Ben Heine’s ingenious Pencil Vs Camera images inspired the series.
I finished my galah painting over the weekend and finally uploaded the photos this morning. There are so many layers of paint on it (which I hope you can see in the close-up below) that I’ll have to wait a few days for it to dry properly before varnishing it. I posted the reference photograph and sketch here last week.
P.S. This is what became of the blank canvas featured in December’s Anything can happen… post.
Sometimes the only opportunity to take photographs is from the back seat of a moving vehicle. No time to think ― just point and click. It helps if you are really quick and a little bit lucky. When you see the original shot prior to cropping (below), you could be forgiven for thinking that there was nothing much in this scene worth painting…
…but I zoomed in and used the scribble sketch to figure out my composition. I’m now painting the landscape and building up lots of lovely textures, and then I’ll have to figure out the best way to paint the cockatoo — too realistic and he won’t have the sense of fun I want to create; too abstract and no one will know he’s a bird. Wish me luck : )
“Be yourself ― not your idea of what you think somebody else’s idea of yourself should be.” Henry David Thoreau
Anna Cull ~ Art & Music 