Wild Enchantment

I recently came into possession of some pictures of paintings that I did several years ago and this is one of them. It is the front yard garden of Rod Goebel's home and studio in Taos, New Mexico. Rod was a legendary artist who created a spectacular garden designed for painting. I was one of very few artists that Rod invited into his garden and I always felt like it was an honor to paint there.
The yellow-orange lilies against the blue delphiniums was part of his plan and I loved the way these two complimentary colors created color excitement. This is a large watercolor, 22 x 30, that I worked on for several days both outside and in Rod's studio. When I find a special subject like this, it can be daunting and thrilling at the same time because I know it will change and photo's will never capture the excitement of seeing it in it's natural setting. I placed the lilies slightly off center and made sure there was room to include the trellis in the upper right corner.
There is so much going on in this painting, the adobe wall behind the flowers allows the viewers mind to rest momentarily as it travels through the composition. Blue is a color that has a soothing effect on humans and I used a combination of warm and cool blues to keep the painting interesting. Deciding how much detail was enough without being to much was challenging but this subject seemed to demand a fair amount. Keeping the values close together in the foreground helped with this. I remember a friend of mine bought this painting so I think I'll contact him and ask if I can come by and see it. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton