Thursday 30 April 2015

Forget-me-not sea-stars



Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of Heaven,
Blossom the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels.
(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow )  

If you saw my earlier post this week ( click to take a look) you may remember I was working on a seascape collage/painting and was about to add the forget-me-not flowers. I was so inspired by their beautiful colour and tiny but perfect flowers.




The more I read about this beautiful little plant the more fascinated I became,
 I discovered.they have royal connections, as King Henry IV of England adopted the flower as his symbol  way back in the 14th century and the tiny blooms were symbols of love and mourning especially during Victorian times. For such a small and unassuming flower they have a whole lot of history!


After collaging the background land/seascape I tore small paper fragments to create the flowers and then used paint and iridescent three dimensional paints to create depth.

WIP
And then built up paint layers. The sea was collage/painted onto aluminium foil so it has a metallic sheen behind the flowers. This is very hard to photograph, but it really does shimmer through the layers.
Detail

Finally the finished canvas below.....





Linking up to paint party friday


23 comments:

  1. This is so beautiful, Morag. I am sure the foil looks wonderful.

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  2. Stunning work! Besides the lovely blue colour, maybe this was moms favourite flower because of that lovely history!! It's gorgeous and exudes the air of Spring!

    Hugs Giggles

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  3. Beautiful work, I love forget-me-not. Happy PPF, Valerie

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  4. Morag this is beautiful. I love that you kept to a similar cool colour palette for the flowers, sea and sky -its a very calming soothing piece - beautiful.

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  5. So beautiful!!!! Stunning piece!!!!

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  6. omg, another beauty! Love the touch of yellow in there. Thanks so much for explaning the process to me in your mail, I really would love to see you in action in a video!

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  7. Such a gorgeous combination of color and materials, Morag.

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  8. Wow Morag, this turned out SO beautiful!!! I loved reading about the process too. Every time I see your art online, I just KNOW that it's even better in person. I wish you were not so far away. I would pop over for some tea, see your paintings in person and then perhaps afterward we could go walking to look for forget-me-nots. :) xoxo

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  9. Fabulous work. Love the forget me nots and the story of their history. So fascinating.

    Kate

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  10. Iam a gardener and love planting these from seed. I also press them and use them in my collages. I love your beautiful forget me nots!
    Very rich in texture and color!!!

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  11. I adore forget-me-nots too Morag, and this piece of yours is absolutely gorgeous, those tiny blue flowers against a shimmering blue sea, perfect!

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  12. Beautiful intricate work!

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  13. this is SO lovely-there is a short poem I (used to remember) about the forget-me-nots...it'll come back to me eventually:)

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  14. It's absolutely beautiful Morag, you captured them beautifully, even better than real life! And I feel the same regarding your comment on my blog - there are so many beautiful places I've never seen and I want to see them all! The beautiful pics on your site sometimes make me feel that way.

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  15. That's a breathtaking piece, my friend. I didn't know what a rich history forget-me-not's had, so thanks for sharing that as well. Happy PPF! #63

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  16. Me encanta, ¡yo adoré estas flores! :)

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  17. These little flowers are so beautiful and pop up here each Spring.
    Your forget-me-not art is really wonderful. It is very clever how you have the blue flowers against the blue sea and yet each is distinct. I like the unusual shape of your painting too.

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  18. GORGEOUS .. I so love your style!

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  19. The painting's beautiful! I love the shimmering foil that peeps out from the paint layer. I went to buy some forget-me-nots a few weeks ago because I love their pretty blue colour and sweet little flowers but I couldn't find them in the shops but then to my surprise they've just appeared in my garden! I thought they'd all died off last summer! :)
    Jess xx

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  20. What a beautiful painting! Love the colours and layers, and those beautiful forget-me-nots. I didn't know they had such an interesting history.

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  21. this is beautiful. just beautiful!!

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  22. Totally stunning - what beautiful work. I love the colours and layers, and especially the shimmer. I find the history of flowers fascinating and I shall be looking at my forget-me-nots with a new respect from now on!

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  23. Oh I could get lost in this blue and wild beauty, it is a stunning piece! The different shades and textures bring it alive, I can feel the sea breeze as I gaze at this, wonderful!

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