"Poppy Beauty" (watercolor on paper; 5" x 7")

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I don't know about you, but just looking at these two beautiful red oriental poppies makes my heart beat a little faster!

The Collage of My October 2015 Paintings

The collage of my October 2015 paintings

I was super productive last month until my accident!  Which painting is your favorite?  This month I will be probably busy with custom pet portraits for the holidays, but still intend to squeeze in a few watercolor florals.  Wish me luck!

"Oriental Poppy Mystique" (watercolor; 8" x 6") sold

sold

The painting started out with a pure white background.  Photographing it turned out to be difficult.  So, last night, I turned the white background into something else.  A dark, mysterious background brings out the incredible form, color, and texture of red oriental poppies, don't you agree?

"Red Poppy Passion" (watercolor; 5" x 7") sold

sold

I decided to paint poppies a little differently.  I glazed the flowers, stems, and pods in several layers (in the left flower below, you can see the first yellow layer), whereas the background was painted wet-in-wet.  The painting looks intense and tropical, doesn't it?  I love it!

"Red Poppy Love" (watercolor; 5" x 7") sold

sold

Here is the last of the red Oriental poppy triptych.  It look like this together. Fabulous, if I may say so!

sold

sold

sold

"Red Poppy Glory" (watercolor; 5" x 7") sold

sold

An old collector of mine who bought "Oriental Red Poppy" commissioned me to paint two more of these poppy paintings so that she could display them together.  What an awesome idea!  And I get to paint a mini series!  Thank you, Kierstyn.  This is the second of the series.

"Red Oriental Poppies" (watercolor; 6" x 8") sold

sold

These are Oriental poppies, not the regular poppies.  Papaver orientale is a perennial flowering plant native to the Caucasus, northeastern Turkey, and northern Iran.  Having quoted from Wikipedia, all I care about is how huge and bold these babies are!  There is a batch growing in the nearby Green Spring Gardens Park, which I make a point of checking out during the season.

"Red Poppy Dance" (watercolor on paper; 10" x 10")

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Red Oriental poppies with delicate blue green fronds dance against a blue sky, which was not a blue sky at all in the reference photo!.  As the painting progressed from the bottom of a quarter watercolor sheet (15" x 11"), it became clear that dark, lush green background all over interfered with the vivid red petals of the poppies. The painting was about to become too choked with intense colors.  There would be no respite for the eye or a breathing space.

I cut the bottom portion, making the painting a square, and made the foliage lighter.  You can't paint what you see; you have to follow the direction of the unfolding painting.