Hibiscus at 11 am 6-27-09

Everything starts looking like a painting. . . This hibiscus glowed in bright 11 am sunlight while the background was in dark shade. Amazing. The leaves looked translucent green. Many things in Mexico have this glow: doorways, birds catch the light, even palms in the sunset radiate back light in this latitude.

Technique: Instead of using out of the tube greens, I mixed pthalow blue and burnt sienna, with a little indian yellow for high lights. I tried using both cool and warm reds, but it didn't quite catch the color that glowed in the sun. Masking fluid preserved the white space with the yellow area. I cheated on the whites using a little gouache.