Happy Holidays

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. I wanted to send out a painting full of color and richness. I remember how happy I was when I finished this and, so because of that, I choose this one. I hope you can sense the joy and happiness I feel even now. I have so many friends of different religions and beliefs I wanted a painting that would transcend all that and make people smile and feel happy to be alive. I know that is a lot to ask but that is the way I feel. There are certain paintings that I wish I could keep but this was purchased by a dear friend and I know it is in a good home. I will be spending Christmas day with people I love and I wish everyone Happy Holidays and a new year full of adventures and delightful surprises.

This painting has a complimentary color scheme of blue and orange and also an accent complimentary color scheme of the green leaves and the red and pink flowers. It is a large composition, 22 x 30 inches, and there is an area that I washed out several times and repainted. If you think you know where that is, send me an email and tell me. The decision to paint my own border and make that part of the composition with the flowers and leaves flowing into it was interesting and led to a series that I continue to work on.

If you are familiar with the golden mean, also known as the rule of thirds, then you understand the placement of the large orange flower. It does make a powerful statement and was the starting point of this painting. Thank you Leonardo da Vinci. The rest of the painting was improvised from my imagination and smaller paintings that I did in Denver Botanic Gardens. I used a deep dark indigo background to show off the rich colors which I also used it on the border. The leaves are mixtures of olive green, perylene, lemon yellow, French ultramarine blue, and cerulean blue. The same blues plus cobalt violet and mineral violet were used for the blue flowers and the orange flowers were painted with lemon yellow, cadmium yellow and cadmium red. Happy Holidays everyone. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton