Where The Paint Decides

I’ve been working on a large floral oil painting lately — one of those pieces that takes you on a journey you don’t quite plan.

It started with a grisaille in transparent red oxide — a simple still life with apples on a table. The next day, it looked far too red. So I mixed a green glaze using ivory black and cadmium yellow, with Schmincke medium, to tone it down. Better… but still boring.

The following day I wiped it back a little and painted a still life of a vase with flowers over the top, letting some of the apples show through. For a while, that felt promising. But my gut — which I’ve learned to trust — wasn’t convinced yet.

That night, as I lay awake, I kept thinking about simplifying. The next morning I mixed three values of grey and used the deepest one to push the background back. Working in greyscale gave the whole painting a new calm. Suddenly, it began to tell me what it wanted next.

It became clear that I needed to almost obliterate the top two-thirds of the canvas and keep the composition tighter — a compact floral in a round vase that seemed to form itself. The table needed warmth, so I mixed burnt sienna with white. Against the cool grey background, that warmth felt just right.

The gloss that catches the light now comes from the earlier green glaze — a trace of where the painting began. The result feels rich, a little old-worldly.

I’m hopeful this work marks a direction I’ll keep exploring. Like life, the layers hold stories — some bold and clear, others softened by time — all shaping the present with quiet resilience.

Marian Bosch 2025

Size: 56cmx56cm