Linda Rauch Artist

This painting was a piece that I painted for our son Christopher and his wife Rita. I named it “Wedding Day” because it has the colors of their wedding in it. The painting has flowers that bloom in the spring, which is when they were married. This painting combines the reds and purples that were sprinkled throughout the wedding ceremony. I chose the pale pinks to represent the softness of a wedding, and the reds to represent the passion of young love. The style that I chose is a combination of what Chris and Rita liked in two very different paintings. It is mid-way between the softness of Monet, and the boldness of my hard edge fantasy style. Chris liked the hard edge bold paintings, and Rita liked the soft impressionist style that I paint in. This painting brings both styles together for them.

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"Wedding Day"

This particular detail in Chris and Rita’s “Wedding Day” painting illustrates the depth that was achieved by using layering techniques.  The beginning of the painting was painted using the cool colors because they tend to recede.  After I painted the background colors in using greens, blues and purples, I sealed the painting with a thinned mixture of painting medium and water.

The next layer of colors were the pale pink poppies and the hot pink or crimson poppies.   If you look at the painting it appears as if the poppies are closer to you.  This is because of the medium I thinned, and also because warm colors advance.  This layer also included the lime greens seen in the poppy buds as well as the yellows in the native grasses.  After I was satisfied with these colors I sealed the painting once more.  

The final colors that I added were the bright red poppies and the large pink poppies in the foreground.  These colors appear as if they are very close to you.  This is because of the layering and also because warm colors advance. 

I found using both of these techniques together gives the appearance of great depth in the garden.  The next blog will show other details in the painting that I have discussed.

Chris and Rita's "Wedding Day"

I finished the painting “Wedding Day” just in time for Chris and Rita’swedding. Their wedding was this last Friday and was absolutely gorgeous. The colors that were sprinkled throughout the wedding were purples, pinks, and reds. I will begin today by discussing the addition of the bright red poppies into the painting.

Because the bright reds in the poppies are so intense they caused an entire new set of dynamics to happen in the painting. I have to admit that when I first added the sprinkling of reds into the painting I was concerned about them dominating the piece. Because the reds are so intense, they tend to draw most of the attention. This can be both positive and negative when you are painting.

I will add some smaller segments of the painting to my blogs during the rest of the week, so you can see the areas that I will be discussing.  Today I will talk about the foreground in the painting.   

The main areas that I was concerned with were the left foreground, the middle foreground and the right foreground. I was so frustrated in balancing the red poppies in the painting that I actually repainted several parts of the foreground multiple times! This was because I was not happy with the reds dominating the painting. After nearly a week of changing my mind about the placement of the reds and pinks I finally got it the way I wanted it. I will discuss these areas in detail during some of my other blogs.

In general I am extremely happy with the layering techniques I used in the painting. This building up of of layers at certain points during the painting causes this painting to look very deep. This was achieved by watering down my painting medium and painting it on top of what I was finished with. The next group of colors that was placed on top of the medium began to look like they were closer. If you look at the purple larkspur in the background you will feel like they are much further away than the red and pink poppies in the foreground. This is the effect that I wanted to achieve.

The feeling I wanted to capture on the canvas was the softness of love, the passion of youth,  and the excitement of the day that Chris and Rita were married.  The colors in the painting were chosen for these reasons, and also because they are the colors that were in their wedding.  Because Chris and Rita were married in the spring,  I chose poppies and larkspur.   These are flowers that begin to grow during the spring months.

My next blog will concentrate on some of the individual parts of the painting. I hope you enjoy seeing Chris and Rita’s new painting  ”Wedding Day”.

This drawing resulted from a trip to Grand Cayman Island when I was visiting my brother Jim Rauch. My brother lived for years right on the sandy white beaches that were next to the turquoise blue carribean ocean. The water in Grand Cayman is so clear that you can see as if you were in a swimming pool when you are snorkling. The shells and the tropical foliage were facinating to me. One day I happened to notice that certain things in flowers reminded me somewhat of some of the lines I saw in shells. This drawing was made to show a connection between the sea and the land. I call it “Genesis” because the shell is beginning a transformation into a flower.

Shipping

Small pieces – $13.00, large paintings – $25.00, large items – “inquire for quote“.