"Daffodils and Hyacinth" (watercolor; 10" x 7")

click here to buy

We have many different kinds of daffodils that flower non-stop in the spring for almost two months as some are early bloomers and others, late ones.  In the painting, you can three varieties of daffodils.  For the darker, complimentary contrast, I stuck a stem of purple hyacinth in their midst.  Voila, a beautiful arrangement!

"Spring Still Life with Bleeding Heart" (watercolor; 8" x 8")

click here to buy

Another watercolor floral pick-me-up!  I am going to let you in on a secret.  The pink camellia was not pink at all in my original arrangement; I only have a white camellia bush in my garden.  When I painted the flower as was in the reference photo, it simply faded away into the white background.  I rescued it by adding a pink blush!

"Scent of Lilac" (watercolor on paper; 7" x 7") sold

sold

"Lilac Season" (oil, 11" x 14")
sold

Lilacs blooming in my garden

Lilacs are blooming in my garden.  It is unseasonably chilly this morning, but I went outside to take some pictures.  I love the lilac--its delicate florets, its colors, and above all, its scent!

"Lenten Rose" (watercolor on paper; 6" x 8") sold

sold
matted size: 10" x 12"

Lenten Rose, or hellebore, is a tough plant whose foliage stays green all winter, then starts blooming in late winter.  From its delicate appearance, however, I bet you wouldn't know it!  This is the first time I have ever painted lenten roses.  I have a feeling that it won't be the last.

If you want to win a painting from my "Spring Fever" series at the end of the month, please sign in to follow my blog.  Thanks!

"Tulip Bouquet" (watercolor on paper; 8" x 10")

click here to buy
matted size: 12" x 14"

Although nothing beats the flowers from my own garden, I don't know what I would do without those from the florists during the dull months between the mid-fall and the early spring.  A dinner guest brought a bouquet of magenta tulips last month.  I was already planning on doing a series of watercolor florals, so I took some pictures in the kitchen, as it was too chilly to take the tender flowers outside.  They are long gone now, but they will live forever, now transformed into an artwork!

There are two bouquets in this painting: one of the flowers and the other of the shadows.  It has an unusual, compact design with the flowers and shadows melting into each other.  Kind of tricky to pull it off, but it seems to work, don't you agree?

If you want to win a painting from my "Spring Fever" series at the end of the month, please sign in to follow my blog.  Thanks!

"Scent of Lilac" (watercolor on paper; 7" x 7") sold

sold

I love the scent of lilac.  We used to have three small lilac bushes: white, purple, and violet.  Only the white one is still alive.  As long as I have their photo or, even better, "Scent of Lilac," I will always have my lilacs in my heart.

If you want to win a painting from my "Spring Fever" series at the end of the month, please sign in to follow my blog.  Thanks!

By the way, I would like to thank everybody who took trouble to sign up for my email newsletter.  I had to make the difficult choice to pick just one person.  The lucky winner of "Sprinkled Chocolate Donut" is R. Meyer.  Congratulations!  R. Meyer, please contact me with your address.  I will ship the painting right away!

"Peony Love" (watercolor on paper; 9" x 7")

click here to buy
matted size: 14" x 11"

Can you tell that I love peonies?  The fabulous spiky leaves that complement my beloved flowers so well belong to the spiderwort.

By the way, the bluish tint of the white ground is caused by the blue of the sky!  The beautiful shadows should be more purplish, but people have gone mad while trying to Photoshop a picture perfectly.  I've learned to let it go.

If you want to win a painting from my "Spring Fever" series at the end of the month, please sign in to follow my blog.  Thanks!

"Red Tulip Passion" (watercolor on paper; 7" x 7") sold

sold

Spring has always been my favorite season.  Although I live in northern Virginia, where there isn't really a bitter winter, I experience a serious case of spring fever at the beginning of every spring.  The first sighting of snowdrops and crocuses makes me go "crazy."  Pansies and lenten roses have been blooming for three weeks in my garden. I spotted dwarf irises a couple of days ago.  So it is natural and inevitable that the theme for my March Challenge should be "Spring Fever"!

To shake things up a bit, I have decided that my March paintings will be mostly watercolor florals.  Before I discovered oil, I used to be a watercolorist.  I've been told that my watercolors are gorgeous.  One of my "specialties" is the floral still life on a pure white background, such as "Red Tulip Passion."  The painting really pops out, doesn't it? I may throw in an oil painting every now and then, just because I can!

"Tulip Shadows" (watercolor on Yupo; 14" x 18")

click here to buy

Taking a break from my February challenge of "Pastry Pleasure" paintings, I worked on a watercolor yesterday.  It is nice to switch gears every now and then.  Red tulips and yellow miniature tulips cast purple shadows on a white ground.  Which is prettier--the flowers or shadows?  The matted size is 20 x 24".

"Peony Season" (watercolor on paper; 6" x 6")

click here to buy
matted size: 10" x 10"

Recently someone asked me why I don't promote my watercolor paintings.  She said: "They are gorgeous!"  Well, I suppose they are my little secrets.  A great thing about watercolor is that if you use the white of the paper effectively, the painting can really sing for you.  How do you like this little gem?

"Peony Season" (watercolor on paper; 6" x 6")

click here to buy

Every now and then during the flowering season, I arrange flowers from my garden on a piece of white paper and take pictures for my watercolor still lifes.  I am more interested in shadows than flowers themselves.  Photographing is necessary because the shadow shapes will keep changing as the sun moves.