WILSHIRE BLVD

Years ago I  went to Los Angeles with my husband on one of his business trips. I walked a lot and saw these cute men walking  home from the store on Wilshire Boulevard. They were talking the whole way constantly and didn't notice me stalking them. I  took a lot of pictures while I walked. I couldn't wait til I got back home to be able to paint this picture. Of course back then was when we had to wait for the pictures to come back to see how they turned out. Not the instant gratification that we have today!

Best Face Forward

When in California a few years ago; my sister in law was gathering sunflowers in bottles as centerpieces for an event. They were all over the counters and tables in her kitchen and just took my breath away with their collective beauty.It is kind of similar to seeing masses of tulips planted close together- so much more impressive than three or four planted in a garden.
 I would love to receive huge bouquets of flowers as a romantic gesture, but only if they were free. My husband knows that I would not want him to spend that kind of  money on flowers- just hoping he wins the flower lottery, even though I have never heard of them!

Ladies in Waiting

We have watched a few period shows like the Tudors.What struck me about them was that so many people lived in a particular castle at one time. It took so many people to run the daily business of what went on; from scullery maids to ladies in waiting for a queen. I wonder what the job description was for a job like that? The ability to sit and wait for hours for nothing to happen? According to those movies and tv series there was a lot of hanky panky!
These beautiful pansies are like those ladies in waiting; all beautiful but groomed to waiting for their chance.

Blue Path

There is something of a fairy tale aspect that this painting.Just enough to image a princess  floating down the path or Red Riding Hood going on her way to see grandmother!

Flowers at the Edge.

My uncle did a lot of farming years ago with his brothers . They had cows and pigs as well as planting a lot of acreage with cotton, soybeans and corn.All of that was for business, but there was always a family vegetable garden. Most of the family gardens I saw usually had a few rows of flowers on the edge. I never asked about it but wondered exactly why they were planted-- seems a little sentimental to me. Maybe it was a female member of each family who put them there! Anyway they  were always beautiful.

Season Red

This painting of Amaryllises is a looser version of ones I had painted before. I try to buy some bulbs every year to enjoy for most of the winter. They usually come in a glass vase with pebbles in the bottom of the vase and water is added just to the bottom of the vase. It takes about a week or two to shoot up and bloom. Last year I had one that had four blooms on one stem!

FAVORITE

This painting has one of my favorite color schemes.I love the transitions of the warm magenta to the cool purple. Those colors seem to beg for a touch of the cool mint green. I am lucky to do what I want to do. I sit down everyday and have the luxury of getting to choose what I would like to paint. This hasn't always been the case. I remember as a single Mom I had a car accident and had to have my car repaired. The guy who owned the body shop asked if I would paint his black 57 Chevy in exchange for the amount of the deductible I was supposed to pay. I had never before painted a car, but was willing to try.

Afternoon Sun

This is painted from some more flowers I had on one of my tables at Thanksgiving.They really lasted a long time;I just threw them out yesterday. I placed them on some napkins that I had bought at Williams Sonoma some years ago. The tablecloth they matched is long gone but I do love the color and patterns of the napkin fabric.They are perfect with the yellows and reds of the flowers.

Pop Up Party

Geraniums remind me a a party about to happen. The blooms seem to just shoot up out of the green circular leaves. They are very hardy; one of the few flowers that flourish in the middle of summer in the south. A Rosie the Riveter kind of flower- not a shrinking violet.

Sandy's Vase

I went to a Nancy Medina workshop here in Memphis a few years ago. One of the artists I met was Sandy Mctier from Georgia, she is a wonderful artist and does a lot of teaching. She brought an antique vase with her and we used it to showcase some of the flowers Nancy brought. The color of the vase was actually a dusty blue but somehow I painted it this blue green color. It just seemed to go better with the composition as that color. I could paint this one several times, it was that much fun!