“Pale Pink Rose" by Maud Naftel

Pale Pink Rose

Maud Naftel (1856-1890)

1886

Watercolor illustration

Source: Naftel, Plate VIII

Naftel considers this to be probably the most challenging of the flowers chosen — and then there is the added difficulty of the vase. [Commentary continues below.]

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The rose itself requires extreme subtlety in colouring: "The entire flower is shaded with varying tones of these colours, palest pink and yellow ochre, or even permanent yellow instead of yellow ochre, for the light parts, rose madder and golden ochre for the deeper portions of transparent red" (42). As for the vase, "The glass globe must now have some more colour; the reflection of the foreground in the upper part makes it of a much warmer tint than the lower portion, which takes its grey from the background; add these different tints, and go on adding, gradating, and taking away until the whole represents a round glass globe full of clear water, with the leaves and stalks showing indistinctly and confusedly. The high light has a rainbow effect, owing to the glass being slightly iridescent" (45).

Bibliography

Naftel, Maud. Flowers and how to paint them. London: Cassell, 1886; new ed. 1906. Internet Archive. Contributed by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Web. 12 March 2022.

Created 12 March 2022