Yellow Chrysanthemums 3 and 4

Yellow Chrysanthemums 3 by Christopher Johnson


Yellow Chrysanthemums 4 by Christopher Johnson

Yellow Chrysanthemums 3 & 4 were the last artworks from that set of still life photos I took to use the watercolor look. I hope you enjoyed the series!

Here are a few of the great gifts at Zazzle with these floral artworks:

Yellow Chrysanthemums 4 Sticker

Yellow Chrysanthemums 4 Women's T-shirt

Yellow Chrysanthemums 3 USA Postage Stamps

Yellow Chrysanthemums 3 Mousepad

Yellow Chrysanthemums 2

Yellow Chrysanthemums 2 by Christopher Johnson

The second in a series of yellow chrysanthemum flowers with watercolor effects. This series is also available on Redbubble and on great gift products at Zazzle (in fact most of my work is even if I don't say anything :-P ).

Here are a few of the cool gifts with this floral artwork on Zazzle.

Yellow Chrysanthemums 2 Women's T-Shirt

Yellow Chrysanthemums 2 Mousepad

Yellow Chrysanthemums 2 keychain

Yellow Chrysanthemums 2 Greeting Card

Yellow Chrysanthemums 1

Yellow Chrysanthemums 1 by Christopher Johnson

I've been photographing quite a few chrysanthemums and I've been trying to do something different with the images each time. With this series, I'm working on giving the yellow chrysanthemum flowers a watercolor look in post processing. I really love how this look accentuates the petal edges and has great texture when viewed up close.


Here are a few of the products available at Zazzle with the artwork

Yellow Chrysanthemums 1 Coffee Mug

Yellow Chrysanthemums 1 Greeting Card

Yellow Chrysanthemums 1 Mousepad

Autumn Tree Painting

The autumn tree painting is part of lesson 4 of the Learn and Master Painting oil painting course that I got. It is a very complete course and if you are learning to paint, want to see how another painter works, or want to get started like me coming from another medium, I recommend it.


Autumn Tree Painting by Christopher Johnson

In Lesson 4, the goal is to paint a believable object(tree with autumn foliage and shadow) and we are practicing varied strokes.  In the DVD video, the teacher shows how to make varied strokes and explains how it is better to have varied strokes when painting. She also explains how edges should overlap instead of painting up to a line.  It isn't clear in writing, but she shows different examples of good and bad edges so it is so easy to understand.

My problem in this case is that while I do have Burnt Umber, I didn't have Cadmium Orange for the lesson. In fact, I didn't have any orange paint at all so instead of  making a trip to the art supply store, I decided to see if I could make an orange like color mixing some of the other paints!  I took a simple lesson and made it complicated, but in the end, I had my autumn tree with shadow and it did have autumn colors. When I finally buy Cadmium Orange, I'll make another painting of this lesson.

I decided after finishing the tree that I wanted more than the shadow below the tree. Improvising beyond the lesson, I covered the ground with left over "leaf paint"  from my palette.

Mandarin Orange 1 - Mandarina 1

Mandarin oranges, mandarinas, are my favorite early winter fruit. They make me think of Christmas, and I buy many kilograms of them every year while they are fresh and in season. The only problem is that eating them is a little messier because of the seeds.


Mandarina 1 by Christopher Johnson

I love their tart flavor. Each juicy piece of this fruit should be cherished. In Mandarina 1, I'm celebrating its general form and beauty. Mandarins are unique and compelling. I love the perfume of the fruit as it is peeled too. It is so intoxicating.

Creamy Yellow Rose

While people up north are getting autumn temperatures and colorful leaves, the weather is is only just starting to cool off as we start to enter the dry season.  While I wish I could get photos of snow and leaves for holiday themed artwork, I also enjoy having some flowers all year long.  In cold climates there is a burst of flowers in a few short months while in warm climates you have them all year but not quite so many at a time. Every plant has its season.

While walking back from the bank yesterday through Tultitlán and then Cuautitlán, I took a few photos of flowering trees and plants.  I almost missed this rose flower from a very tall shrub growing over a wall. The flower was above me in the light so as photos are judged, it was very bad lighting, but I thought it was very pretty so I took the photo anyway in hopes of turning it into art.

Creamy Yellow Rose

Creamy Yellow Rose by Christopher Johnson

Creamy Yellow Rose 2

Creamy Yellow Rose 2 by Christopher Johnson

Creamy Yellow Rose - Divinity

Creamy Yellow Rose - Divinity by Christopher Johnson

Large Yellow Wildflowers 3, 4, and 5Flores Silvestres Grandes y Amarillas 3, 4 y 5

Here are the next three in the large yellow wildflower series of the beautiful large sunflower-like flowers which started blooming around the first of October in the now-naturalized park in northern Mexico City.  This just shows you how important it is to visit natural and nature-taken-over areas frequently because the changes can be huge. It is hard to imagine that it is the same place where I took my Agave photos in the winter.  It looked so desolate then, but now at the end of the rainy season it is just full of green foliage and flowers.

Large Yellow Wildflowers 3

Large Yellow Wildflowers 3 by Christopher Johnson

Large Yellow Wildflowers 4

Large Yellow Wildflowers 4 by Christopher Johnson

Large Yellow Wildflowers 5

Large Yellow Wildflowers 5 by Christopher Johnson

Large Yellow Wildflowers 1 and 2Flores Silvestres Grandes y Amarillas 1 y 2

Today was a busy day editing two artworks. Although the second one might look like it came from the camera, that is not the case.  These large yellow wildflowers look like small sunflowers, but they weren't turning with the sun so I'll have to assume that they're not sunflowers.  I have a few more great photos of them to post-process.

They were very interesting because they only started to bloom about the beginning of October, before that I took photos of other wildflowers.

Large Yellow Wildflowers 1

Large Yellow Wildflowers 1 by Christopher Johnson

Large Yellow Wildflowers 2

Large Yellow Wildflowers 2 by Christopher Johnson

Large Yellow Wildflowers 2 Antiqued

Large Yellow Wildflowers 2 Antiqued by Christopher Johnson

Grapefruit 1Toronja 1

It is important as an artist to use what is available to us not just what we'd like. Since I ate a grapefruit a couple days ago, I obviously took some photos of it first. I really love the pink-red of the fruit's flesh and the yellow rind.

Grapefruit 1

Grapefruit 1 Vintage

Little White Wildflowers 4 and 5Flores Silvestres Blancas 4 y 5

I feel quite happy with the results of these last two artworks in the white wildflower series. I hope they'll one day make a collector happy.

4 and 5 are both painterly with enhanced highlights and shadows with tonal contrast and some sharpening. It is also very interesting that it is much easier to do painterly artworks than works using other effects which highlight lines or form. I'd be interested in seeing if that is the case for other visual artists.

Little White Wildflowers 4

Little White Wildflowers 5

Little Yellow Wildflowers 1 Low-keyFlores Silvestres Amarillas 1

This yellow wildflower was pretty, but it is on a very sharp plant covered in tiny spines or thorns.  I gave it a low-key painterly look full of shadows and highlights with a canvas texture.

Little Yellow Wildflowers 1 Low-key

Little White Wildflowers 1Flores Silvestres Blancas 1

I took photos of some more wildflowers that I picked a couple weeks ago. I'd rather take the photos there, but the recent rains have flooded the park's paths and also the last time I spent more than 30 minutes in the park, one of the loser neighbors called the police inventing that I was doing some activity that anyone with good eyesight would know immediately that I wasn't doing that.

These little white wild flowers started blooming around the end of August.

Little White Wildflowers 1

Gold and Brown Chrysanthemum Flowers 1 Art

I bought these beautiful chrysanthemum flowers a couple weeks ago, but don't worry I took the photos right away while they were fresh. :-)
This is my second attempt at doing a high-key bright flower artwork. The first attempt was with pink carnations which I believe I forgot to post about however you'll see a small preview a couple posts ago where I asked what you wanted to see (no one commented so I must assume you're all super happy with my art as it is).

Gold and Brown Chrysanthemum Flowers 1

I also did a sepia version which is also available.

Focal Point - Fractal ArtArte Fractal - Enfoque

Here's my second fractal artwork,Focal Point 1. This abstract work is to make you imagine light traveling in space with the focal point as a distant star, but if you imagine something else, that's great too! :-)

Focal Point 1

Here is the original fractal generated by software with my settings.

Yellow Daylily 5 Flare

Yellow Daylily 5 Flare

I was a little bored one day so I went looking for something bright and shiny. I found these great daylily flowers and thought they'd look great with a little something special added. I quickly went for an extreme look. How about this floral makeover?
I'm thinking about editing it a little more :-)

Single Pink Rose Basics

Single Pink Rose Basics

This is one of my favorite cut rose flowers. While not the most promising I kept working on it until it was just right.  It was manipulated for selective color and line. Great for modern decor.