"Poppy Beauty" (watercolor on paper; 5" x 7")

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I don't know about you, but just looking at these two beautiful red oriental poppies makes my heart beat a little faster!

"Hope Poppy" (oil on linen; 4" x 5") gift

gift

I painted "Hope Poppy" as a gift to Pat MacMaster.  She found me on Facebook, fell in love with my paintings, and ordered two pet portraits.  In other words, she is a great fan.  Then she went out of her way to introduce my work to her friend, who was uncomfortable with the computer stuff.  So Pat served as a go-between, sending me Lynn's dogs' pictures, texting her, etc.  To make the long story short, I was able to paint and sell three pet portraits thanks to her.

When she first sent me the email about her friend, I was down.  Suddenly I felt the surge of optimism.  Someone loved my work so much that she spent her rare visit with her friend, talking her into ordering paintings.  I felt hope.  Yes, I can do it.  I can make a go of it as a full-time artist!

I titled the small painting "Hope Poppy."  A bright poppy is in full bloom amongst lush greens; a bud will open another day.  "Hope Poppy" is filled with light and hope.  Thank you, Pat.

"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!

"Red Tulip Passion" (watercolor on paper; 7" x 7") sold

sold

Spring has always been my favorite season.  Although I live in northern Virginia, where there isn't really a bitter winter, I experience a serious case of spring fever at the beginning of every spring.  The first sighting of snowdrops and crocuses makes me go "crazy."  Pansies and lenten roses have been blooming for three weeks in my garden. I spotted dwarf irises a couple of days ago.  So it is natural and inevitable that the theme for my March Challenge should be "Spring Fever"!

To shake things up a bit, I have decided that my March paintings will be mostly watercolor florals.  Before I discovered oil, I used to be a watercolorist.  I've been told that my watercolors are gorgeous.  One of my "specialties" is the floral still life on a pure white background, such as "Red Tulip Passion."  The painting really pops out, doesn't it? I may throw in an oil painting every now and then, just because I can!

"Tulip Shadows" (watercolor on Yupo; 14" x 18")

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Taking a break from my February challenge of "Pastry Pleasure" paintings, I worked on a watercolor yesterday.  It is nice to switch gears every now and then.  Red tulips and yellow miniature tulips cast purple shadows on a white ground.  Which is prettier--the flowers or shadows?  The matted size is 20 x 24".

"Red Rose" (oil on linen; 7" x 5")

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Still life setup

I have been living off my photographs for months and have finally had enough!  I decided instead to paint more from life.  As I don't seem to be eager to go outside to paint, I figured that simple still lifes would work better for my indolent self.  I ordered a shadow box contraption advertised in Carole Marine's blog, got fabrics to block the ambient light, and bought a red rose for my own still life setup.  So far so good.

Painting the darned rose was not as easy as it appeared.  I first tried it lying on a beige drape.  After a wipe-off and an indifferent painting, I gave up.  Yesterday the flower looked exactly the same as the day before (!), so I decided to have another go.  This time I put the rose in a crystal vase with a striped green fabric as the backdrop.  The vase didn't make into the small painting; the fabric became a neutral green environment.  Doesn't "Red Rose" look like a garden scene instead of a still life?

"Glorious Poppies" (oil on linen; 8" x 12") sold

"Glorious Poppies"
sold

"Red Poppies" (oil, 8" x 12")
sold

Last summer I spotted gorgeous red poppies at Green Spring Gardens Park in Alexandria, VA.  As I was leaving after a plein-air painting session, I didn't have the time or energy to do another painting.  I took a picture, thinking that I would come back soon.  I did a few days later, but the flowers were all gone!  As the Roman poet Horace said, it's carpe diem or dead flowers.  I had to console myself with the photo, which served as the reference for "Glorious Poppies."

Compare the new painting with "Red Poppies."  The old painting has a merit--soft, dreamy, etc.  But I absolutely prefer "Glorious Poppies"!  I don't know what's happening to me.  I seem to have become bolder, more confident, not afraid of strong contrasts, and so on.  The new one has more depth and interesting "details" too.  When one thinks of red poppies, one does not dream of a  romantic, pastel image, unless he is Claude Monet.  Aren't these papery, blood red flowers all about hot-headed passion?  "Glorious Poppies" fits the bill much better than my earlier attempt, I dare say.

"Red Poppies" (oil on linen; 8" x 12") sold

sold

"Red Poppies" blocked in

As I said in the entry on "Purple Irises," I am an alla prima painter, finishing a painting in one session, whether it takes one hour or a whole day.  The idea is that as long as the paints remain wet, you can manipulate the edges--hard edges for emphasis and soft ones to recede.  There are, of course, exceptions to my usual approach.  Sometimes I run out of time and can't finish a painting on the day when I started it. 

Or, like with "Red Poppies," I decide to let the first block-in stage dry.  The green seed heads are in front of the red petals, and you know one of the color principles: you mix two complimentary colors, then you end up with mud.  Greens and reds are such a complimentary pair, occurring in nature often and making it all the prettier.  The point of poppies is their brilliant reds--cadminus red, permanent rose, and alizarin crimson, etc.  Your heart rate goes up happily, exhilaratingly.  So adding green paints on top of fresh, juicy red paitnts would have been simply asking for trouble. 

As impatient as I am, I wisely let the flowers dry for two days, which meant that the soft greens and violets of the surrounding meadow also dried out unfortunately.  Dry brushing came in handy to paint in delicate stems suggestively and poetically.  I am quite pleased with how the painting turned out.