Part of the painting a day challenge is after dark, after work, or in stormy weather, finding something to paint. I’ve always been meaning to paint my mums cyclamen plant. Bright colours, challenge of the symmetrical pot, and now I can add a contrasting background with my shadow box.
First attempt didn’t go so well. I lost the vibrancy of the colours by mixing shadow instead of trying to match the observed colour.
So I changed my light angle, but kept the deep blue background and tried again.
I feel like I managed to capture the glow of the pink flowers, which are surprising dark, the overhand of the flowers. The pot, now that I look at it, lost its shape compared to the still life, but I am satisfied that it looks like a pot for the time I had to paint this one.
Susanna Heath 