"Red Zinnea II" (watercolor on Yupo; 8" x 10 1/2") sold

sold

I just started laying down paints on the line drawing for "Red Zinnea"; how do you like my mini, full-palette palette?

"Red Zinnea" in progress; it's almost time to paint the "air" and that is when all hell breaks loose!

Recently I sold "Red Zinnea" (see below) on Etsy.  On the day she received the painting in the mail, the buyer contacted me requesting if I could paint a little larger version for her mother who also loves zinneas.  How could I resist such a sweet request!  So the deal was made and she duly placed a commission order on Etsy.  Do you know what she did while she had a credit card out?  She bought another Yupo painting!  She told me that she couldn't help herself!

"Red Zinnea" (watercolor on Yupo, 6" x 8"; sold)

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

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

sold

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!

"Poppy Field" (oil on linen; 5" x 7") sold

sold

Reference photo

Poppies at Green Spring Gardens Park in Alexandria, VA

Sometimes the subject matter is fairly easy to paint.  It is the background that causes problem.  As you can see in the reference photo, I had to be creative with the bottom part of the "poppy field," which was not exactly a field of red poppies bobbing romantically.

After several scrapes, I came up with the finished painting, which has the red-green compliment colors as the dominant color scheme.  The violets in the background were inspired by the deep violet heart of the flowers. I didn't start the painting with this color scheme in mind.  I stumbled into it!

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!