"Double Cherry Blossoms" (oil on linen; 8" x 8") sold

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I am back!  I was gone on a family trip to Minnesota, visiting family and the University of Minnesota campus (my daughter wants to go there for college).  It was still winter in Minnesota. It even snowed. In central Minnesota, we hear it snowed a foot.  It is good to be back to spring!

Spring fever and allergies are what I am suffering from.  Do you know what?  I can live with them!  For weeks, I didn't know what to paint.  Now I have too many subjects to choose from. To make matters worse, it is difficult to stay inside.  Either I am working in my garden or taking pictures of flowers at home or at parks.  It's a hard life.  Hehe.

Double cherry tree smothered with flowers.  Ah, I love spring.

"Joy of Spring" (oil on stretched canvas; 20" x 16") sold

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What a winter we are having!  The Polar Vortex!  Have you seen the pictures of the frozen Chicago Lakeshore?  Burrrr.  I pulled out a picture of peonies and watermelon to warm up my soul.  We had a fantastic spring last year.  It was mild with plenty of rain to keep the flowers going for weeks beyond their season.  The reference photo for the painting was taken on the last day of May, which is very late for where I live.

It was a hot sunny day and I and my darling peonies were wilting.  Just the thought of it made me happy as I painted "Joy of Spring".  There is nothing like sinking teeth into the slice of cool watermelon on a hot day on the patio by the side of gorgeous flowers!

"Summer Roses" (oil on linen; 5" x 4") sold

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I h
ad trouble titling this small gem.  "Rosy Glow"?  "Rose Brilliant"?  "Rose Shadow Play"?  In the end, I settled with "Summer Roses" although I took the reference photo for the painting in early fall.  Do you know why?  The painting just feels hot!  The sun casts colorful shadows on the petals; the background is shrouded in cool darks, from which a few sunlit leaves emerge. How would you title the painting instead?

"Poppy Dreams" (watercolor on Yupo; 6" x 8") sold

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I am continuing my Yupo painting explorations.  Everyday I work on two or three paintings.  Why?  Because paints on Yupo dry very slowly; water has to evaporate, as the synthetic support does not absorb any moisture.  While a section on a painting is drying, I work on something else on anther painting.  I go for puddly, spontaneous, watercolory look in these paintings, but they are actually painted slowly, patiently, and in stages.  How do you like "Poppy Dreams"?

By the way, I found a great quote by Claude Monet: "I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers."  He took words right out of my mouth!  I can paint flowers everyday for months without running out of inspiration!

"Pink Peony Magic" (watercolor on Yupo; 8" x 10") sold

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Backlit pink peonies against a dark night sky.  Does it make sense?  Yes, because it's magic!  Of course, part of the magic is Yupo.  All the swirly stuff in the background was created by manipulating wet paints.  How?  I held the Yupo sheet gingerly by the edges and moved the paint puddles left and right, top to bottom as well.  Very messy and nerve-wrecking.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  This time it worked!

The painting was published on the Daily Paintworks site this morning.  Someone left this comment: "Such a lush, translucent watercolor.  Strong use of this medium."  Isn't that nice?

The winner of "Moonrise over the Sea" is Elizabeth Ferguson.  Congratulations!  She is a relatively new fan and one of the most enthusiastic Facebook fans of mine.  She leaves a wonderful, positive comment on many posts.  Thank you, Elizabeth.  Artists are like movie stars.  They want to be seen and loved!

"Pink Hollyhocks" (watercolor on Yupo; 10" x 8")

matted size: 14" x 11"
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I decided to paint watercolors this summer, taking a break from the intense oil painting exploration since April.  If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may recall my "Spring Fever" series of watercolor florals in March.

"Spring Flowers Collage I"
click here to buy a print

For this summer's watercolor series, I wanted to do something different.  I felt that my usual way of painting watercolors was too tight.  Honestly, no artist wants to paint tightly!  How do I achieve my goal of painting loosely?  Paint on Yupo, which does its own thing.

I can't go back to fix things, because if I do, the dry paints will be reactivated by water and be lifted.  If I use a soft sable brush with the gentlest touch, I can maybe do a glaze or two over a small area.  Ordinarily, watercolor paints on paper dry disappointingly lighter than they appeared when wet.  Not with Yupo.  Paints dry in intense original colors and glow like jewels.  Look at "Pink Hollyhocks".  Do you believe me?

"Rosy Glow" (oil on linen; 7" x 7") sold

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The rose garden at the Green Spring Gardens Park

The rose garden at the Green Spring Garden Park in Alexandria, VA has given me so many painting opportunities over the years.  It was blooming like a heavenly garden 20 days ago; the flowers are gone for now.  They will come back later in the season.

"Pink Peonies Bursting" (oil on linen; 14" x 11") sold

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All spring I wait for my pink peonies to bloom.  Actually, peonies don't bloom.  They burst!  It has been an unusually cool spring in the Mid-Atlantic region this year, so they just started blooming in my garden.  I took some pictures on Tuesday and proceeded to paint my darling peonies.  Unfortunately, the last two days were full of distractions and family duties to fulfill.  After many disruptions, I managed to finish "Pink Peonies Bursting."

Reference photo

I must say that I have never painted peonies like this.  The workshop with Gregory Packard is rubbing off on me!  The biggest compositional challenge was how to handle the table, which bisects the picture so rudely.  I rounded and lowered it.  Please tell me that I did the right thing!  I am going to paint a few more peony paintings because I just can't get enough of these flowers.

"Bleeding Heart Love" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

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You don't have to be a bleeding-heart liberal to love the bleeding heart. It has attractive mounded foliage with arching stems of delicate, heart-shaped flowers. Indeed, I consider it, not the rose, the most loving plant. Its heart is so full of love that it splits up to show its innards! When she was little, my daughter used to pick a bleeding heart in my garden and give it to me as a token of her love.

By the way, I would like to say thank you to everybody who contacted me for the drawing of a print of "Spring Flowers Collage II".  The lucky winner of is Jeannelle Walker.  Congratulations!  I have already ordered the print.  As soon as I receive it, I will send it to Jeannelle.

Next month, I am going to widen the circle for my monthly drawing to all my Facebook fans.  If you haven't checked out my Facebook fan page, please click here.  I post a painting or a photo everyday.  It is the best place to get the most up-to-date information about my artwork.  Please "like" the page!

"Peonies in Morning Light" (watercolor on paper; 7" x 7") sold

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"Peonies in Morning Light" was painted a little differently from my other watercolor paintings in "Spring Fever" series.  It had to do with the delicate pink peonies bathed in morning light.  If I had left the ground pure white, they would not have sung; instead, the painting would have looked anemic.  I first applied several layers of gradated washes on the background until I felt right, then I painted the subject.  I love the result!

"Double Cherry Blossoms" (watercolor on paper; 7" x 9") sold

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matted size: 11 x 13"

The first stage: the first wash of blossoms done; the group of leaves on the left finished.

The second stage: the leaves are done; several layers of washes on the blossoms are being applied.

The third stage: the flowers finished!

The fourth stage: painting the vase is my favorite part.

The fifth stage: painting the shadows goes fast, but it's the most nerve-wrecking stage. If I ruin it, there is no going back. I have to redo the whole thing all over again!

The other day I mentioned how controlled and time-consuming the execution of my watercolor paintings is.  I took some step-by-step pictures to show you what I mean. This small painting, without including drawing,  took about three hours!  I should really raise the prices for my watercolors!

After I "finished" the painting, I put it aside overnight because something was bothering me.  On the following day, I strengthened the group of leaves on the left, while leaving the smaller group on the right alone so that it would recede.  Don't you think this minor adjustment helped the painting tremendously?

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!

"Bleeding Heart in Green Vase" (watercolor on paper; 7" x 7")

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matted size: 12" x 12"

The bleeding heart is all curves: the heart-shaped flowers, the arched stem they dangle from, and the palmated leaves.  You can't see the coquettish green vase for this demure still life in its entirety, but I assure you that it is also all curves!

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!

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

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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!

"Pink Lungwort" (watercolor on Yupo; 8 1/2" x 8 1/2") sold

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The lungwort is an invasive, shade-loving palnt.  It's taking over one side of my garden. I keep digging them up and sharing them with my gardening friends.  We all love it!  The matted size is 12 x 12".

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

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

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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?

"Joyous Peony Bouquet" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

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I know that "Joyous Peony Bouquet" is not exactly a seasonal painting except that these pink peonies from my garden have always brought me a great joy and that I painted them joyously!

"Cherry Blossoms Cascading" (oil on stretched linen; 30" x 20")

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Before

Reference photo

I painted "Cherry Blossoms Cascading" in Diane Tesler's class last year.  Diane is one of my favorite art teachers who taught me many things from how to stretch canvas to how to paint practically everything.  She would come to the four-and-a-half-hour class before it stated, stayed through the lunch break (she didn't eat lunch herself to find more time for students), and never left until everybody cleared out.  I must say that she was the most dedicated teacher at the Art League School in Alexandria, VA.  Alas, she decided to retire and moved to Indiana this summer.  I will miss her.

Diane (in the center) at reception for her solo show in June

Diane is the kind of artists who see beauty in beat-up trucks and abandoned houses.  She paints soulful, gritty stuff, not fluffy pretty things like cherry blossoms.  I had to wait for another teacher to show me how to paint cherry blossoms.  It was Bobbi Pratte who told me to find darks to bring out lights in cherry blossoms.  "Cherry Blossom Festival at Tidal Basin" was done without her help, but the idea of keeping dark the blossoms in the shadow at the top of the picture was straight from her lesson.  The painting got sold right away at a gallery, so I must have done something right.

"Cherry Blossom Festival at Tidal Basin"
(oil, 14 "x 11")
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This week I brought down "Cherry Blossoms Cascading" that had been languishing in my office upstairs to give it a major makeover.  Can you tell what I did?  I strengthened the sky first, then went to work to make cherry blossoms come to life.  Now the painting hangs in the family room so that all who come to my house can see it!

I am grateful to all my art teachers.  They may have different painting styles and teaching methods, but I learn valuable lessons from every single one of them.

"Apple Tree Blooming" Revisited (oil on linen; 12" x 12") sold

After
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Before

"Yellow Tulip Planter" (after; oil, 12" x 9")
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Before

It's been several months since I painted "Apple Tree Blooming" and "Yellow Tulip Planter" last spring.  At that time, I thought they were pretty darn good.  Last week I looked at them; they didn't look that great anymore!  My critical attitude toward some of my old paintings, I hope, doesn't mean that I am turning into one of those sour, unhappy people who are never satisfied with their lives.  It's just that I am growing as an artist and can critique my own work impartially and constructively.

Anyhow I worked on both paintings to see what I can come up with, the second time around.  Can you see what I did?  For one thing, I got rid of the half of a tulip on the far left in "Yellow Tulip Planter."  I don't know what I was thinking back in April!  Many an artist has made the same mistake of painting everything in front of her, in this case, in the photo. 

Lately I started a new habit of bringing a work in progress to the bathroom to look at it in the mirror.  It really helps me to take an objective look at it and I discover lots of awkward things this way--a horizon that doesn't quite match up, a vase with a wrong ellipse, etc.  And that is how I realized that the flower had to go.

Over all, I think I strengthened the composition in both paintings.  In "Apple Tree Blooming," there is also a stronger sense of light bouncing around.  Don't the two spring flower paintings make you feel happy?

"Pink Peony Spring" (oil on stretched canvas; 10" x 10") sold

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"First Peony" (oil, 10" x 10")
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This spring has been such a strange one that many plants seem to be as confused as gardeners.  I have one precious peony plant, which had always given me an armful of fragrant pink flowers every spring.  Not this year.  An unseasonably warm early spring, followed by a cool mid-spring, must have wrought havoc to the poor thing.  What you see above is all the peonies I got!  It is now the hydrangea season in northern Virginia.  Hopefully, hydrangeas didn't get damaged by the funky weather.

HAVE A GREAT MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!

"Pink Tulips in Spring Garden" (oil on linen; 10" x 12") sold

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Reference photo

Last Sunday I worked in my garden for six hours, weeding evil wild strawberries.  The mild winter has done wonders for this relatively tolerable weed, turning it into the 10-inch-tall, garden-chocking, monster!  I did take a few breaks, though, to drink water and take pictures of flowers in my garden.  The above photo was my favorite. 

"Tulips and Creeping Phlox" was painted on Monday, because I couldn't wait, despite the general fatigue and bad aches in the neck and lower back.  A couple of hours into painting, I no longer felt any fatigue.  Perhaps, it was the pain killer.  Or, I would like to think, the magic of art.  The mauve tulips are the stars of the show.  But without the chorus line of the blue creeping phlox, would they have worked as well? 

By the way, the creeping phlox is the talk of my neighborhood.  Three years ago, I transplanted a small clump, which was barely hanging on, chocked under yews, azaleas, and vinca vines, to the current open location under a mature crepe myrtle.  Neighbors stop to ask us what it is, then compliment us on its beauty.  My husband and I garden because we love flowers.  But it's not just we, but the entire neighborhood, who get to enjoy them.  I don't volunteer at Green Spring Gardens Park, which is not far from where we live.  Nevertheless, I contribute to the community in my own way and am proud of it.