Visiting my Mum and Dad last weekend, I was struck by the light and colour of summer flowers in a vase on the living room table. The thing that really got my attention though was the way the red coaster was visible beside the vase but disappeared behind it even though the vase was transparent. It then ‘appeared’ in two other places ‘on’ the vase. Well I wasn’t about to figure out why and how that happened but I did become interested in capturing the effect. This painting was so much about painting what you see, not what you know! So let me take you through the process.
Because of timing, I couldn’t work from life. So instead, I worked from a photograph. See what I mean about the coaster?
First step was a quick thumbnail sketch. I used an HB pencil, an uncommon medium for me to use for these types of feeling-it-out sketches (I usually grab a pen). The whole thing was predominantly mid-value with some lights and a few darks.
Then into the painting!
And here are the pastels I used:
After deciding what to paint and playing around with various thumbnails, the actual painting took about one and a half hours. I was thinking I’d come back to it after a break but I realized it had the feel of a plein air or alla prima painting – done in a single sitting – and felt it worked as is. So decided to say the painting is finished (except I still have to sign it!).
This was a bit of experiment for me as I decided not to do my usual three-value dry underpainting and instead, started applying various colours immediately. I was still cognizant of the three-value structure while I worked though.
I also chose colours from my larger collection of Unison pastels rather than being confined to their starter set. As you know, I’m always trying to show what can be achieved with a limited selection of colours in a pre-selected kit. This time though, I wanted to do something just for me! Still, I thought you’d be interested in seeing the process and how I found my way through the ugly stage to the end.
Until next time (when I can’t wait to introduce this month’s guest blogger!),
~ Gail
![Pastels on black aper: Gail Sibley, "Untitled [at this point], Mount Vision pastels on Sansfix pastel card, 5 1/2 x 7 3/4 in](https://www.howtopastel.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/IMG_9649-2-150x150.jpeg)
36 thoughts on “Summer Flowers In A Vase…Or…The Case Of The Disappearing Coaster!”
Thanks for this Gail…I LOVE your painting…I love its delicate nature…
Many thanks Lauraine!!!
Hi Gail love your composition it’s not just a vase of flowers the included background works perfectly with the arrangement all extra interest.
I paint flowers but I haven’t worked much with pastel I’ve a lot to learn not yet confident with them have purchased a set of unison pastels and I’ve joined your group so hope to make progress.
Glad you like it and think the whole thing works Christine. Look forward to seeing your pastel flowers in the Facebook group! Unison pastels are wonderful 🙂
It is beautiful! And intriguing about the disappearing red coaster! No doubt there is some physics involved.
Hah – yes, physics. Which is why I threw up my hands, rolled my eyes, and got on with the painting!
Lovely painting. So fresh and lively. Thanks for showing your process!
Thanks Kim! Love the words ‘fresh’ and ‘lively’ in relation to this piece.
This post is very helpful to me–it’s so kind of you to share the stages of the painting and point out in each one what you’ve done. And the “ugly stage” post may have been written just for me! I have a whole drawer full of pieces that I quit on in the middle. I’ll have to take another look. Gail, I had a really hard time reading this blog post. There seemed less contrast than usual, and the type is quite small anyway. The “ugly stage” post was a bit easier to read. Maybe it’s just my eyes. Anyway, thank you for the wealth of instruction!
I’m so glad to hear this post AND ‘the ugly stage’ are helpful Ruth. Yes, get in that drawer and pull something out and work on it. You can’t lose can you? It may take off or it may bomb but that’s better than a collection of unfinished pieces in the drawer. Let us here what happens!
Sorry to hear you had a hard time reading this post. I think it’s because I put much of the description in the captions and they tend to be smaller font than the main text. Perhaps there is a way you can zoom in?
Your alla prima painting looks great! Thank you for sharing your experience and step-by-step process! It’s inspiring!
Yay!! That’s what I love to hear Berdine!
Hi Gail, I liked your pastel! I have been painting Pastel for three years. Still struggle. I am in Sierra Pastel Society. I love your color and enjoyed your demo. I have a page on FBook, but am losing interest in it because they have changed so many things. I need to get a new Web site instead. My page is Inspirations by Linda McCann on Facebook. I used to paint in watercolor, oil, and acrylic. I love the pastel the best. Looking forward to your blogs.
Thanks Linda! So glad you have discovered and now love pastels 😀
I hear you about Facebook Page – it’s difficult to get traction there now for sure. Really the best place to put your time and energy is your website – it’s yours and represents you. Facebook can always change the rules (as it does!) which means you have no control. You have that control on your website so I encourage you to put your efforts there.
Thank You Gail for sharing your process on this lovely rendition. I always get so much out of seeing the different steps you take to get to the finished piece. I still consider my self a beginner and this is something that was never taught to me the layering and working with values to make a drawing or painting sing with life and movement. You really capture this in all of your work that I see here. Love that red coaster and how it pops up in 3 places too! I hope your parents get to see this one!
Thanks so much Lela! I’m glad the step-by-step is helpful. I myself am always amazed as I look back at the progress and see how the mess comes together as a painting. I have an online beginner course coming out soon that might be helpful. Also, I had thought I would create a course next on values so thank you for the reminder.
I know! That red coaster is quite something isn’t it?!
And since my parents are subscribers, they will eventually see the painting 😀
Like the way you cropped the photograph and enjoyed watching your process. You were right to keep the couch in the background, the composition is great. Love the suggestions of the flowers without all the details.
Thanks Nancy for the vote of confidence around keeping the couch. Funny how you can move along in a painting and then find the original idea morphs into something else.
I really like this fresh looking finished pastel. Your color choices were lovely. I found the step by steps very useful – especially, how you developed and defined the daisies. You were bold to include the couch rather than going with an abstract background, and it totally worked. I love painting flowers. I am just learning how to do this with pastels, and this is the kind of look I’m drawn to. Thanks so much for this lesson.
You are so welcome Cheryl! It really makes my day to know that a post has been helpful. Funny about the whole couch thing but now I am glad that I kept it. Look forward to seeing your flower paintings in pastels. Hope you will share them in the Facebook group.
Hi, Gail! This does have a wonderful fresh look to it. I’m always struggling not to overwork a piece. Thank you for this post!
Jane, I love hearing that! It really is difficult to NOT overwork a piece!
Gail – thanks for this! I’m always attracted to paint flowers in a vase, but have never actually done it because it has seemed so overwhelming. Breaking it down like you have makes it feel more doable to me. Now, to find those flowers in a vase! They’re never around when you want them to be.
Elaine, you are so right – a vase of flowers can seem overwhelming! Values and simplification are always key. Also, look at paintings others do of flowers. Study how they paint shapes, colour, value structure. Look forward to seeing your flower paintings 🙂
Really useful to see the progression from start to finish Gail – would love to see more examples like this. I have a photograph of a nice vase of flowers (no coaster!) which I’ve hesitated to attempt but I might give it a go now. Thanks!
That’s great to hear Jan and thanks for saying you want more like this – that’s helpful!
I hope you jumped in and painted those flowers 🙂
Fantastic demo and painting Gail. A joy to watch.
Whoo hoo! Thanks Jory!!
Interesting subject. The “disappearing ” red coaster might be the differences in refractive index of the water, air and glass. If my memory of high school physics is correct (it’s been a long while) a subject will not be “seen” if the refractive indecies of the medium(e.g. air,water, glass) are the same. But enough. I like the way you handled the point of interest, while subduing the rest of the floral arrangement. The yellow of the couch is a good compliment to the violet understated flowers. Even though a photo was your reference, the painting has a certain plein air quality ( to my eyes, anyway).. Thanks for sharing.
Hah hah Cliff – trust you to come up with some of the physics aspect! Glad you liked the piece and a huge compliment that you think it has a plein air quality! Thank you!
Do you know, I think this is one of the loveliest flowers-in-a-vase paintings I have ever seen. It has a wonderful freshness and energy, and just the right degree of detail to leave something to the imagination. You have inspired me to try something similar and to boldly block in the local colour as you have done before fine-tuning the values. As someone who mainly does animal portraits, I am now ready to branch out!
Kylia, you have just made my day (which needing making as I am in the middle of computer problems!)!! Thank you for such an enthusiastic response 😀
I look forward to seeing what you do as a result of this blog post! Show us over in the Facebook group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/howtopastel/
This is absolutely gorgeous, Gail. Kylia hit the nail on the head–so fresh and so much energy, not to mention the luscious colors…great work!
Thanks so much for your enthusiastic thumbs up Wendy!!
Dein Step der Blumenvase ist sehr informativ. Die Idee mit den schwarz/weiß-Tonwerten finde ich gut. Danke!
Hello Jürgen, danke!
I translated (in google) what you wrote: Your step of the flower vase is very informative. I think the idea with the black and white tonal values is good. Thank you!
I’m glad you found it helpful. Seeing value is such an important skill for an artist. Happily these days we have the aid of our cameras that shoot in black and white or editing tools that can desaturate our colour photos!!