"Hydrangea Garden" (oil on linen; 10" x 8") sold

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I realized that I haven't painted hydrangeas at all this year.  That's won't do!  I pulled out a picture I took last year and went to work.  Fresh as the morning dew, white hydrangeas bloom against a white picket fence.  Ah, the glory of hydrangeas!

I quickly established the value pattern with transparent paints.

I started laying down opaque paints on the background, flowers, and leaves.

Throw Pillows for Your Room

click here to order throw pillows

click here to order throw pillows

The above two paintings have been sold, to the satisfaction of both my collectors and myself. They remain two of my favorite paintings, full of energy and light.  Now they are available as throw pillows!  Isn't it awesome?  

Designs are printed on both sizes; three square sizes are available (16", 18", and 20"); the material is soft yet hard wearing 100% spun polyester poplin fabric; and concealed zipper is along one edge for aesthetic wonderment and convenience.

I am very excited about the whole idea of making my art more accessible to my fans and followers.  Greeting cards and calendars are also in the works!  

"Summer Garden with Hydrangea" (oil on stretched canvas; 12" x 12") sold

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Before

Something about "Summer Garden with Hydrangea" bothered me.  It felt like a faded old picture.  I decided to rescue a painting nobody seemed to care for.  I punched up the darks, got rid of the dominant sap greens, and played up the violet-yellow green complementary color scheme.  My new summer garden painting looks kissed by the sun, don't you think?

"Bountiful Hydrangea" (watercolor on Yupo; 10" x 8") sold

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Hydrangea has got to be the most bountiful plant ever.  One small pot of hydrangea will grow to be a huge bush laden with beautiful flower heads!  I wasn't sure whether I could paint such a complex, tight subject on the "uncontrollable" Yupo.

After I put down the initial washes of the blue flowers, warm shadows in the foreground, and cool darks in the background, however, I could envision the sunny hydrangea bed coming to life.  I proceeded to develop the leaves and flowers.  If you step way back, the painting reads even better.  I am proud of myself for pulling off "Bountiful Hydrangea"!

"Hydrangea and White Picket Fence" (oil on linen; 8" x 8") sold

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Hydrangeas are blooming!  There is something irresistible about hydrangeas AND a white picket fence.  They pull heartstrings as nothing else.  So romantic and nostalgic.  It doesn't matter whether your mother's garden had these.  I do have a white picket fence; I have a small pink hydrangea bush.  But they are separated by a lawn and driveway!

So, during the hydrangea season, I haunt the Green Spring Garden's Park in Alexandria, VA, which is just a stone's throw from my place.  The gazebo, which I have painted a gazillion times, is surrounded by a white picket fence.  When hydrangeas bloom, it looks even prettier.  For the past few weeks I checked the growth of the hydrangeas several times to make sure that I wouldn't miss them at their peak.  My patience was rewarded at last.  You will be seeing more of hydrangea paintings!  

By the way, the winner of the print of "Summer Garden" is Sandra Land. Congratulations!  I would like to thank 50 fans and followers who participated in the drawing.  I will be giving away an original painting in early July.  So stay tuned!

Do you remember this gazebo?

"Summer Garden" (oil on canvas; 10" x 10") sold



"Summer Garden"
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"Hydrangea Bed" (oil, 7" x 7")
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"Hydrangea Garden" (oil, 7" x 5")
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I had so much fun painting "Hydrangea and Picket Fence" the other day that I decided to do a series.  All four paintings were based on the photos I took at Green Spring Gardens Park in Alexandria, VA last Monday.  Some days you are just darn lucky!  Do you see the white picket fence that surrounds the gazebo in my painting below, which I painted in April?  



"Green Spring Gazebo" (oil, 11" x 14")
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I have been impatiently waiting for the hydrangea season, because I know that they have hydrangeas planted all around the gazebo. For whatever reason, hydrangeas and a white picket fence are a match made in heaven. They just look perfect together.  They evoke a nostalgic, cottage-garden look that pulls our heart string.  You may not have a hydrangea bed in your garden; you may not even have any garden at all.  But don't you wish you have hydrangeas blooming by a white picket fence in a friendly neighborhood where neighbors look out for each other?

"Hydrangea and Picket Fence" (oil on linen; 6" x 8") sold



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Reference photo

I love hydrangea.  The Chinese characters for this multi-colored flower mean "water chrysanthemum."  Isn't it interesting?  I guess the name has something to do with its cool palette, which ranges from blue, mauve, violet to yellow green.  Yesterday, I went over to Green Spring Gardens Park in Alexandria, VA to take pictures of hydrangea bushes.  I have a couple of them blooming now in my garden; one is so enormous that it should be classified as a tree!  But neither is near a charming picket fence.

Ideally, I should have painted them on location, as I have done last year, when I painted "White Picket Fence".  But I knew better.  The picket fence surrounds the gazebo at the park, which attracts a lot of small children for play.  A few minutes of solitude in the hydrangea heaven was soon distrupted by the invasion of three kids with their moms.  I myself used to take my daughter there for fresh air and exercise when she was a preschooler.  So it was time to pack up.  I painted "Hydrangea and Picket Fence" in my studio, wishing I could see the colors in the shadow better.  Oh, well.

"White Picket Fence" (oil, 11" x 14")
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