Ponderings on Florals
Lately, I’ve been thinking about why it is that paintings of flowers are generally not as highly regarded as paintings of people. I think a well done painting of flowers is every bit as difficult and nuanced as that of a human subject “¦ I think the riff lies else where.
The success of any painting is its ability to communicate to the viewer. Said in a slightly different way, the viewer must be able to relate to the painting. A great floral painting must somehow take “a bunch of posies” and have it convey human emotion. That’s a neat trick, especially in today’s busy world. It’s hard enough to get people to ’stop and SMELL the roses’ let alone relate to them! People identify to other people more readily. Paint an image of a few people and immediately the viewer is adding their own story to the mix.
On the flip side, painters often choose flowers as their introduction to painting. Beginners see flowers as less intimidating. However, to paint a likeness of a flower includes dealing with countless petals, a variety of colors, complex surfaces in varying relationships to a light source, opaque and translucent qualities, plus all the design issues one considers when painting any subject. Unfortunately, many painters are content when their florals are simply ‘pretty’ and nothing more. Value, hue, color temperature, rhythm and a host of other design elements must be employed to shape a bouquet into a statement about something MORE than the bouquet. It must have emotional content and ‘connect’ to a viewer. Pretty is fine, but pretty with a touch of joy, or love or solemnity has greater depth.
I have more thoughts regarding this subject but not enough room to cover it here…another day perhaps. I encourage painters of flowers to strive to have their paintings say more, and perhaps people who have long left the floral as their subjects, revisit it with the intent to bring more to the table.
~ Lynn ~