"Scarlet Heaven" (oil on stretched canvas; 24" x 18")

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I started "Scarlet Heaven" before my medical crises in late October and have been working on it on and off.  Happily, it is finally finished!  Can you believe I saw this incredible field of scarlet poppies, stretching for miles, in an island off southeast Sweden?  It was one of the happiest days of my life.  I hope there will be in 2016 many happy days like the day on which I walked with my daughter in the poppy fields in the Swedish sun.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

"Glorious Poppies" (oil on stretched canvas; 12" x 12")

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We had an afternoon to kill during our Scandinavian vacation, so we decided to drive around Oland ("o" with an umlaut), a big island off the southeast coast of Sweden.  Rick Steves's guide book said that Oland with its mild weather was considered the "Provence of Sweden".  Even so, when I first saw the poppy fields, I couldn't believe my eyes.  Poppy fields in Sweden?

My daughter and I got out of the car to find out what was going on.  Poppies were growing amid wheat for miles. We tried to walk the miles until we got tired.  When we asked around later, nobody seemed to know why. Most people seemed to think that poppies were just growing wild.  I believe they were planted alongside wheat.  For whatever reason, the poppy fields of Oland made my day!

You can see how happy I was!