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

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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?

"Pink Peony Garden" (oil on linen; 7" x 7") sold

 sold

Peonies are, in my opinion, one of the most joyous flowers.  The flowers captured in my painting have just started opening.  They will keep unfurling until the heads become so heavy that they will droop to the ground.  Such abundance, such profusion, such lavishness!

This fits my current mood too, as I continue to recover from shingles and feel like myself again despite the throbbing pain that comes back at night.  The weather in northern Virginia has been unseasonably mild.  The potted geraniums out by my front door are still blooming.  I am in a mild state of spring fever!  In last December I was in the mood for painting autumnal and snow scenes.  Not anymore.  I want to paint spring flowers!

"Pink Phlox" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

sold

Original state, then titled "Rock Garden Phlox"

I am feeling better.  Yeah!  Yesterday I cleaned up my studio, then went through my photo stash looking for inspiring pictures for about two hours.  My stamina wasn't yet quite up to speed unfortunately, so I took a rest and decided to work on an old painting instead of starting from scratch.

"Rock Garden Phlox" is a year-old painting, which I once thought was one of the best florals I have ever done.  Well, that was then.  The tiny florets of the phlox, which I had found blooming at the rock garden at Green Spring Gardens Park in Alexandria, VA, were actually cool pink, not warm pink as in the original state.  I wanted more paint on the painting.  After all, these things are called oil paintings, not oil washes, right?  I also thought that I could strengthen the feeling of light striking a few petals and dead stems here and there.

So I got to work.  An hour and a half later, I came up with "Pink Phlox."  What do you think?