stand out from the crowd

(318) 8 x 8, oil
The biggest challenge in painting a flower resting on a floral background is of course, making the background recede while allowing the real star to come forward. Normally, objects in the foreground grab a little more color and warmth, but because this fabric is equally bright and colorful, my focus was in noting subtle shifts in value and color, as well as defining the shadow created by the iris.
“Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way”...Edward de Bono

Stepping Out

(317) 6x6, oil
I thought it would be fun to include some colorful fabrics as a background for my flower. Inspired by my favorite master-of-all-things-creative, Kaffe Fassatt literally wrote the book on creativity...actually, he has authored several books showcasing his designs in needlepoint, paint, quilts, mosaics, pottery, knitting and fabrics! A true Renaissance man.
"Color is music to your eyes" Kaffe Fassatt

flourish

(316) 10 x 10, oil
“I am following Nature without being able to grasp her...I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers”...Claude Monet

a bouquet for dads

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments,
but what is woven into the lives of others"...Pericles

glow

Back-lighting this little vase of flowers allowed me to study the translucence of the petals.
(315) 6 x 6, oil
“The artist is the confidant of nature, flowers carry on dialogues with him through the graceful bending of their stems and the harmoniously tinted nuances of their blossoms. Every flower has a cordial word which nature directs towards him”... Auguste Rodin

just add water

(314) 5x7, oil
Kicking the color up a notch, these Gerbera Daisies were a gift- and as soon as I saw them I knew they would cooperate as well-behaved "models" for painting.
"Of all the many joyful obligations of our existence, the garden here has been the most sustaining just in part because it is the most rhythmic, through winter, spring, summer, and fall. It actually has taught us to love every day of our life. One cannot ask more of love for a garden than that"...Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd

petal pusher

(313) 6 x 8, oil
“It is good to realize that if love and peace can prevail on earth,
and if we can teach our children to honour nature's gifts,
the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever”...Jimmy Carter

Tea Rose

Pink Tea Rose
8 x 10, oil
“It is the month of June,
The month of leaves and roses,
When pleasant sights salute the eyes,
And pleasant scents the noses"...Nathaniel Parker Willis