Dahlias

 My plein air group usually goes to the Bayard Cutting Arboretum to paint a few times each year. We headed back on the property to the dahlia garden for some beautiful flowers.

Purple Dahlias

 Last week my plein air group, PALS, met at the dahlia garden at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum. There were dahlias of assorted colors like these purple ones.

Dahlia Daze

PALS, my plein air group visited the Bayard Cutting Arboretum recently to paint the dahlias. I am always fascinated by the different colors and the kinds of petals. 

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Birdhouses and Dahlias

At the back of the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Oakdale there is a dahlia garden. Along the fence are all different kinds of birdhouses. What bird wouldn't want a house like one of these?

 

Dahlias

In the fall the Bayard Cutting Arboretum has a wonderful collection of dahlias that bloom. I the entire dahlia garden there is done by the Long Island Dahlia Society. I used a photo reference I took to do this for #30x30DirectWatercolor. This is my Day 4 painting.

Dahlia

I was at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Oakdale with my plein air group on Tuesday in the dahlia garden. There are so many beautiful blossoms it is hard to pick one to paint...but I did. This is the way I painted it...

but I may crop it to a square format and maybe darken some o the vegetation. Which do you prefer, the rectangular format or the square?

Here are a few photos I took in the garden.

Dahlia Garden

The other day my plein air group was invited to paint in a private dahlia garden. There were so many dahlias to choose from, but this one really attracted me.

It was a damp day and my paint wasn't drying very quickly. While I was waiting I started this painting of red dahlias. I painted it directly in watercolors. I still haven't decided if I am going to add a background (muted colors maybe?) or leave it white. What do you think?

Dahlia

My plein air group was invited to paint at a private garden this week. The couple takes part in dahlia competitions. Their flowers were just gorgeous!

"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Day 26 - Dahlia

The Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Oakdale has a wonderful dahlia garden that I usually paint in every fall. One flower is more striking than the next, so I used one of my photos from there for my day 26 painting for "30 Paintings in 30 Days." If you would like to see some of the work by the other artists participating you can follow this link.

http://30paintingsin30days.weebly.com/blog

#30paintingsin30days

As promised, here are the sketches I did yesterday while walking around after the blizzard was over. For the first two I used my Elegant Writer pen that bleeds so nicely. I needed something quick because it was too cold out to stand in one place for long.

This one was a double page in my small moleskin sketchbook. I used watercolor pencils as well as the pen. By that point I couldn't sketch without my gloves on and they were really getting in the way.

White Jubilee

When I was at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Oakdale on Sunday for the WetPaints Studio Group's Member's Show,  I had a few hours between sitting at the gallery and the show reception. I went back to the dahlia garden where I've painted a few times lately. The white dahlia caught my eye this time.

This is 5 x 7.

Dahlia Daze

I am a bit behind in posting. On Tuesday my plein air group went back to the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River. I did another close view of one of the dahlias. The colors of the flowers are just so amazing. This is 5 x 7.

Here is the painting against the flower.

We had a small turnout. Here is Rosamaria setting up.

And Linda at work.

At the Dahlia Garden

Today my plein air group (PALS) met at the dahlia garden at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River. The dahlias were gorgeous...and they haven't even reached their peak yet. They should be around until October.

I don't usually do individual flowers, but I figured I would give it a go. It was hard to decide which one to pick as a subject since each one is so different. This is 5 x 7.

Here is the painting against the actual view, and a photo of me working on the painting.

Next I did an ATC sized (2.5 x 3.5) little painting of some dahlias.

Here are a few of the other artists at work.

Jeanne

Laurie

Rosamaria

(who I used as a model for my next painting)

This is 5 x 7.

Here I am working on the painting of Rosamaria.

Since the flowers will be in bloom for a while, I'm sure we will go back again.

Here are just a few photos of some of the gorgeous flowers.

See why I had such a hard time deciding which one to paint?

Dahlia Garden

Last Tuesday my plein air group went to the dahlia garden at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Oakdale. It was overwhelming and hard to narrow down to focus on just a few flowers.

This is 8 x 10.