Pink Roses in a white Jug

These roses are called the ‘Generous Gardner’ and are well named, as they provide beautiful old pink roses all summer that smell divine. They are a joy and a torment to paint – their beauty is seductive but the form has to be built carefully: rush it and you’re lost! Their heads nod disobligingly – as they age, their petals become a darker pink as they were in bud, but dry and shrivelled like small red walnuts. The blossoms themselves, are the palest pink at the edges, contrasting with the bright turmeric at their centres. I chose an old white jug, a white cloth, white vertices at the window so that I could explore the violet shadows and use the complimentaries as sparingly and as subtlety as I could.