Lilac Love

Often the most simple set up is the most effective. This painting combines lilacs with  white mock  orange blooms. My dad grew the mock orange for years and they lined the fence lines at my parents’ home. I like to paint them as a memorial to him but also the white adds that perfect lightest value to make a good painting. I try to have some arrangement of darkest dark, medium and lightest white for a successful painting. To me that is more important than perfect drawing. Happy New Year. Last year was great but not necessarily the best for some family members. I am looking forward to a year filled with good health for everyone.

Better Mood

The  day after Christmas can sometimes be a letdown after all the excitement of holiday festivities. This year is a little different. We picked up takeout for Christmas Eve And had an easy delicious crockpot chicken chili for Christmas Dinner. This may be a reason I am in a better mood; not as stressed about all that cooking entails. This painting conveys some smaller delicate blooms guaranteed to make us all in a better mood.

Public Interest

This is a little deviation from my usual floral. If you look closely you will see a hint of flowers in the background. A subject matter with so much green can be a little tricky. Usually the lighting causes a change in the variety of color rather than the plant itself. I see about five different shades of green,although subtle.

Instant Replay

I am finally able to leave the dreaded face down position post eye surgery. I went out to grocery shop in anticipartion of family coming in for the holidays. After a few hours my eyes were a little overwhelmed, like being released from prison! These flowers in vases were a sight for sore eyes! Please forgive the corny humor; it has been a tough week!

Hydrangea Blues

Blue hydrangeas are my favorite of the hydrangea colors. I think it is because blue is not a common color in flowers. Shades of pink, red and yellow are more common. Pair the blue flowers with a blue and white vase and tou have a winner!

Look at Me

This is a 6x6 inch painting with a big personality.My favorite compositions are those that tend to bleed off the page on at least 3 sides. This gives emphasis to the subject matter and has less emphasis on negative space. The two  blooms are different enough from each other to not make attention getting a peoblem.

Whisper

I love bright colors in my paintings but there is something to be said for a quiet painting. I have done atmospheric landscapes but this is a first for a flower painting. I have often seen this kind of look early in the morning. I am trying to be more fearless in trying new things to paint. The worst that could happen is that I would just have to wipe it and start over.

Chance of Love

As I write this , I am recovering from eye surgery to repair a macular hole . It sounds worse than it is and is fixable. The tough thing is that I have to keep my head facedown for a week.I have a tabletop massage thing with a padded holder for my face, a special mirror so I can watch tv and lots of audible books. I can’t paint yet but I have this painting that I finished last week. I like the joyful bucket of flowers that gives a feeling of hope for an exciting future. While I just want to sit upright!

Backyard Table

Summer is good for growing beautiful flowers.This usually involves having a surplus to display in any kind of container that is reachable;from a beautiful crystal vase to a simple mason jar. The beauty is something that is so exciting to me- I can hardly wait to paint the flowersvwhen they are around.

Required Reading

I love painting buckets of flowers . Because they are so elegant it doesn’t really matter  if they are in a beautiful porcelain vase or a rustic container. Often the more rustic the container, the beauty in contrast is more striking. This illustrates how important neutrals are in a painting.

Do What You Can

When painting flowers that are all the same ,it is important to have some way to make them important. I try to vary the lightness and darkness of the blooms and the individual strokes of the petals. Close together blooms suggest a mass of color that is accented by negative spaces in between. Of course this is a post painting analysis; I just had fun while painting!

CENTER OF EVERYTHING

This painting of a basket of flowers may seem more appropriate for summer but is welcome right now in December.It may help warm up this cold month.It is 12 inches by 12 inches on a panel.It is a pleasure always to paint floral scenes; something that I will never tire of.

Classic Lilacs

I really admire those that do realistic paintings that can be mistaken for a photograph. But I found out long ago that painting that way doesn’t fit my style or personality. This painting is made up of loose and impressionistic strokes to give an idea of a vase of lilacs.That is all I need to make me happy.

Growth Opportunity

The paintings in my head often don’t turn out the same when I bring them to life. This is not always a bad thing, though..after I started painting this it reminded me of Miss Havisham’s garden.It us a little wild, a little controlled and a little Victorian.

SUMMER RETURN

Green is a tricky color. The green that comes from a tube of green paint is rarely found in nature. Most artists work to mix a green that is more true to what  we all see outdoors. The best greens are made mixing yellow and blue with a bit of the complement of green—red. The red dulls the color to a more neutral hue.This neutral green makes the beautiful colors of the flowers pop.

Energy

I like the colors in this painting of flowers. The title suits the arrangement because there seems to be a lot of energy happening with all of the colors and shapes interacting with each other. They all seem to be waiting for a party to happen.

Best Bottles

There are often dozens of shapes, values and colors in a glass bottle or jar. They also change depending on the lighting and time of day. It is all a matter of painting just what you see. Adding some beautiful flowers seals the deal.

Weekend Update

I painted something similar to this a while ago but as always it is pretty impossible to duplicate exactly what I had painted before. I do like to paint something more than once. There is always something different that turns up. I think of Monet who painted many views of haystacks in different light. I think he learned something each time; maybe I will too!

Zinnia Balance

I find zinnias especially challenging to paint. For some perverse reason this  makes me want to keep painting them. I think they are so beautiful and pleasing to the eye that I can’t help trying over and over to get the perfect depiction of them. Worth the effort!

Hit PArade

Close ups ups are a favorite point of view of mine to paint.They seem to cut away everything that isn’t important and emphasize what is. In this painting it doesn’t matter what room the geraniums are in or if indoors or outdoors. It is just the viewer and the essence of the flowers.

Get Together

The composition of a painting can be tricky. Sometimes the center of interest is a larger shape than others or can be a color that stands out from the rest of the painting. In this painting I wanted the viewer to travel around the interior of the painting without the eyes leaving the edges. Although rhis painting is small, it is powerful.

If I Had Wings

I guess we all had some kind of childhood fantasy of super powers. Mine was that I imagined I could fly. I pictured myself gliding above the people and housetops. I think that is why I have a yearning to ride in a hot air balloon.Also I have been thrilled lately to warch drone videos that give a birds eye view of the landscape below. I will have to be content for now to create paintings with this unusual point of view.

PEP TALK

Hydrangeas are still a favorite of mine.Combined with an aqua mason jar the set up is perfect. I like the combination of the blue green with the cobalt blue;atried and true analogous color combination of “neighbor” colors.

High Interest

i really love painting these meadow scenes with wildflowers. I have the idea in my head of what I want the painting to look like but I just let it happen as I go along. I have finally found the best  medium for me. I love watercolor but I painstakingly drew the subject matter in pencil then applied the paint hoping I wouldn’t make a mistake. Oils are so much more relaxing. The worst that can happen is that I don’t like what I start and I have to wipe the painting and start over.

Summer Splash

I am back to the Mason jars and flowers!

These flowers look straight out of a summer garden and of course the mason jar is the perfect place to put them. Someone once asked  how do uou pInt glass. I was intimidated when I first tried but I soon realized it is about just painting the different shapes that I see. It all just comes together , especially when I add the white highlights at the end.

Training Day

i like painting flowers in containers like pots and vases but there is also great beauty in the flowers in a natural setting such  as in a field or meadow.the shapes are important because the individual flowers make interesting patterns.

On the Fence

Lately I have been admiring some beautiful abstract paintings online. I am blown away by the beautiful colors and shapes. Often I hear people talking about abstract paintings by saying that a 5 year old could do that. Of course abstracts are really difficult to do.This painting is my attempt to be more abstract. You can still tell it is a fence, maybe after a few more in a series the fence may disappear all together!

Personal Space

I like painting flowers close to a window because of the lighting. These geraniums are set so that the outdoors through the window come across as negative spaces.Natural light is first choice because of the softness.

Stake Your Claim

i have been so excited doing a series of garden and meadow paintings. I guess it is a way of painring landscapes combined with flowers. I can't abandon flowers cold turkey-- which of course I would never do anyway.

Way Down

I painted this and 3 others with similar colors in preparation for a large commission. The person who commissioned the big painting definitely wanted an abstract feel to it. Turned out to be fun to paint just concentrating on the shapes; not worrying about each petal.