"A Dozen Roses" (oil on linen; 9" x 12") sold

sold

A dozen roses.  Who doesn't love them, except some unlucky people like my husband who are allergic to their fragrance?  And that was the problem with painting "A Dozen Roses"--a very high expectation.  Everybody knows what a rose looks like and will be a harsh critic if it is painted poorly.  Something so beautiful is daunting to render right, for the fear of making it stiff, unnatural.  I guess it's the same thing with painting a beautiful woman, especially a young beauty.  I once had an art teacher who swore that he would never paint her!

So it took longer than usual to finish this painting.  At the end of the afternoon (I had started it in the morning), I was exhausted!  I took pictures and sat down to photoshop to see if the red balance was pleasing.  My husband didn't see the painting on the couch, next to the coffee table on which my laptop sits.  He put down his elbow to the right bottom of the painting, thus smudging and removing some of my signature and dark paints!  I was too tired and shocked to scream.  Mutely I got him a tissue to wipe his elbow and fixed the signature.  By the way, there are indeed a dozen roses in the painting; you just have to look for them very carefully.