"Jefferson Memorial Glow" (oil on linen; 8" x 10")

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The Jefferson Memorial at the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC, during the National Cherry Blossom Festival becomes a lavender jewel as the sun sets and bathes the beautiful structure in golden light.

"Washington Monument Cherry Blossoms" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

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On a lucky day, one can see the sky like this at the Tidal Basin during the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The Washington Monument stands tall and beautiful against the equally beautiful blue spring sky.  The festival just started this weekend; Washington, DC is already being mobbed.  What you don't see in this painting is thousands upon thousands of people milling around under the cherry trees!

"Jefferson Memorial Sunset" (oil on linen; 7" x 7") sold

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I wanted to see how small I could paint a famous Washington landmark such as Jefferson Memorial and still capture its majestic beauty.  The painting is not only as small as 7" x 7", it also shows the monument at its prettiest--at sunset during the National Cherry Blossom Festival.  How about that!

"Jefferson Memorial Cherry Blossom Sunset" (oil on linen; 10" x 12") sold

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Jefferson Memorial, dedicated to an extraordinary man, is my favorite memorial in the city of memorials--Washington, DC.  I have painted it many times, often set at cherry blossom season, like this new one.  Below is the sketch done in chalk pastel pencil on toned scrapbooking paper that I drew while watching TV in the evening.  I liked it so much that I decided to do an oil version in pointillist style.

"Jefferson Memorial Sunset" (chalk pastel pencil on toned paper, 8" x 8")

"Washington Monument Sunset" (oil on linen; 11" x 14") sold

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On a very lucky day, one can see the sky like this at the Tidal Basin during the National Cherry Blossom Festival.  The Washington Monument stands tall and beautiful against the equally beautiful sunset sky!

"Jefferson Memorial in Cherry Blossom Season" (oil on linen; 12" x 12")

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The National Cherry Blossom Festival at the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC is in full swing!  I went over there on Thursday in late afternoon to catch the sunset.  I have never seen the cherry blossom festival at sunset; I was curious how the warm lighting would affect the famous scenery.  As the sun set, the dome of the memorial glowed.  The golden light turned orangish, then pink.  The sky was the harmony of pink, mauve, and blue.  The drama lasted about half an hour.  I returned home elevated by what I had just witnessed.

Cherry blossom lit by the setting sun. Aren't they beautiful?

Even dogs love cherry blossoms!

"Tidal Basin Cherry Blossoms" (oil on stretched canvas; 10" x 8") sold

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What winter we are having!  Even the deep South is in deep freeze!  We are in desperate need of spring weather.  As I lack the power to magically conjure up warm sunshine, I did what I could.  I painted the National Cherry Blossom Festival at the Tidal Basin in Washington DC.

By the way, I want to show you how I "recycle" my precious reference material.  Both "Tidal Basin Cherry Blossoms" and "Cherry Blossom Festival at Sunset" were based on a same photo. How about that!  Which painting do you like better?

"Cherry Blossom Festival at Sunset" (oil, 12" x 12)
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"Cherry Blossoms Cascading" (oil on stretched linen; 30" x 20")

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Before

Reference photo

I painted "Cherry Blossoms Cascading" in Diane Tesler's class last year.  Diane is one of my favorite art teachers who taught me many things from how to stretch canvas to how to paint practically everything.  She would come to the four-and-a-half-hour class before it stated, stayed through the lunch break (she didn't eat lunch herself to find more time for students), and never left until everybody cleared out.  I must say that she was the most dedicated teacher at the Art League School in Alexandria, VA.  Alas, she decided to retire and moved to Indiana this summer.  I will miss her.

Diane (in the center) at reception for her solo show in June

Diane is the kind of artists who see beauty in beat-up trucks and abandoned houses.  She paints soulful, gritty stuff, not fluffy pretty things like cherry blossoms.  I had to wait for another teacher to show me how to paint cherry blossoms.  It was Bobbi Pratte who told me to find darks to bring out lights in cherry blossoms.  "Cherry Blossom Festival at Tidal Basin" was done without her help, but the idea of keeping dark the blossoms in the shadow at the top of the picture was straight from her lesson.  The painting got sold right away at a gallery, so I must have done something right.

"Cherry Blossom Festival at Tidal Basin"
(oil, 14 "x 11")
sold

This week I brought down "Cherry Blossoms Cascading" that had been languishing in my office upstairs to give it a major makeover.  Can you tell what I did?  I strengthened the sky first, then went to work to make cherry blossoms come to life.  Now the painting hangs in the family room so that all who come to my house can see it!

I am grateful to all my art teachers.  They may have different painting styles and teaching methods, but I learn valuable lessons from every single one of them.

"Cherry Blossom Festival at Tidal Basin" (oil on linen; 14" x 11") sold

"Cherry Blossom Festival at Tidal Basin"
sold

"Cherry Blossoms Cascading"
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I succumbed to the crass commercialism and painted "Cherry Blossom Festival at Tidal Basin" to make some money off tourists who will be pouring to Washington, DC to see the National Cherry Blossom Festival later this month.  Do you know that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the planting of over 3.000 cherry trees, which arrived here as a goodwill gesture from the people of Japan?  The majority of the trees were planted around the Tidal Basin; that is what you see in my painting.

In defence of my commercialism, I want to emphasize that it is not easy to paint cherry blossoms.  They are so flurry, dainty, and pretty that it is easy to end up with the saccharine-sweet pink fest of paint blobs.  Believe me.  I've tried to paint them many times.  "Cascading Cherry Blossoms" was painted last spring with the help of a former teacher of mine, Diane Tesler.  This weeping cherry caught my eye last year during the festival.  Here the subject is not the landscape around the Tidal Basin, but the cascading "waterfall" of pink flowers against the crisp blue sky.

Bobbi Pratte, another teacher, insists that one should never paint cherry blossoms too light.  Bobbi is absolutely right.  Just before "Cherry Blossom Festival," I worked on another painting of the same theme, featuring the Jefferson Memorial.  As much as I hated quitting, I had to give up on it, for it was a vulgar pink thing. 

In "Cherry Blossom Festival at Tidal Basin," with the Washington Monument as the focal point, I made sure that the backlit, overhanging branches with cherry florets were dark and warm enough.  Why warm?  It was an overcast day with cool blues of the sky dominating, although there was sun, so that the shadows were warm-toned.  This is definitely a feminine painting; but I hope it has an artistic merit.  What do you think?