New Painting - Flora and Fauna

Michelle Wiebe Flora and Fauna 10" x 10" Acrylic on Canvas 2017

I could see this development coming for a long time. Discontent with the plates in my possession, at first I branched out to borrowing the plates of my friends and family. This worked for a while but lately, I could tell my eyes have been straying... I find myself building surreptitious stacks in thrift stores and sneakily taking pictures with my phone. 

The arrangement in this painting is one of those fleeting encounters in the housewares department of a secondhand store. I was attracted by the different eras represented here. A classic fine china floral sandwich plate balanced on an 80's era dinner plate with punchy colourful fruit and leaf combination anchored by a graphic platter from the 60's or 70's in the prerequisite brown pattern of the day. I fiddled and played around with the composition for a few minutes under the quizzical eye of a staff member. I felt a little odd after I took my picture and returned the plates to their mates. I loved the image I captured though, it was worth the stares. 

Still working in my limited palette. I seemed to have dropped the cobalt blue in favour of only having phthalo blue to mix with. Old habits die hard and I find I don't have to think too deeply to mix what I am looking for. I could have used a magenta for the floral china though - the pinks are not as vibrant as the real thing but I am just fine with how it looks in the completed piece - I find magenta can easily look too harsh sometimes.