"Flight of Orange Butterflies" (oil on canvas; 10" x 10") sold

sold

The powerful storm of last Friday night left my neighborhood without power for four days.  The temperature stayed high in the 90's day after day.  It was relentlessly hot and sunny outside; it was depressingly hot and dim inside.  My family remained cheerful despite the outrage, taking many, air-conditioned, drives in the area to see which streets got power back and to check out new eateries to dine out at.  We even had a tire blow up during a drive!  When it rains, it pours.

With the insufficient light and intolerable heat in my studio, I didn't feel up to painting.  But I feel irritable and unfulfilled if I don't paint for several days.  So I sat in front of my easel in two mornings, perspiring profusely.  "Flight of Orange Butterflies" is the result of my persistence.  It has the intense, tropical feel, don't you think?

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

"Bougainvillea Country" (oil on linen; 6" x 8")

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Reference photo

Where I live, bougainvillea is something you see in the US Botanic Garden on The Mall.  I gather it is a tropical plant, although at the moment with the temperature dangerously hovering near 100 degrees, northern Virginia feels quite tropical!

Bougainvillea at the US Botanic Garden

While driving around in Kauai back in February, I spotted this charming, bougainvillea-covered, scene. Wow!  As a matter of fact, bougainvillea was quite common in the island.  Lucky Hawaiians.  The flowers seem to come in rainbow colors, my favorite being magenta as in the reference photo.  When I first saw the entire country road smothered in bougainvillea, the light was not right.  We went back a couple of days later, to take a whole bunch of pictures, which became inspiration for the painting.