Using my flower photos for inspiration

I have been working lately on floral abstract paintings and I often work from photos.

I use the photos to pull color and line but then work hard at not painting realistic flowers, just the reminder of what a flower is like.

"Tea with mabel" 36 x 36 oil on can vas by Kerry steele

"Lilies and lipstick" 12 x 12 oil on canvas by Kerry Steele

Pinterest can be a great source but I wanted certain flowers photographed in various but specific ways. 

These are the result of an afternoon with my Nikon 5200 and just one 85W CFL Full spectrum bulb.

My goal was to capture the gentle, curving folds of the petals, as well as, the edges and how they look from different angles. 

I am always inspired by the subtle color changes in leaves and petals. The shadows they create fascinate me too.

The ruffle-like carnation and waxy lemon leaf are interesting juxtapositions of texture. As I photograph the individual blooms I keep a mental note of colors I might use.

Some flowers, like this spider mum, don't appeal to my sensibilities in terms of color but do have me thinking about shapes. I use Adobe Lightroom to play with the colors.

Feeling sufficiently inspired by single blooms I moved on to other compositions of color, texture and shape. I like asymmetrical and angled compositions. They lead to paintings like "Delphinium", that recently sold.

I am really pleased with this batch of inspiration.