(174) Pink Peonies
private collection
5 x 7, oil
My assignment for this piece was to begin with a toned background that I allowed to dry completely before beginning the painting. I chose pink for color harmony, and allowed some of it to show through the leaves.
I have seven of these plants--each one a little different from the rest: some darker pink, some pale pink and some leaning toward white with peppermint stripes. They are my absolute all time favorite flower. Once they begin blooming, I nervously watch the weather forecast in the hope that I will be able to paint them before the spring showers move in. They only last a couple of weeks, and rain is such an "insult" to them. Martha Stewart once dubbed them the "Marilyn Monroe of flowers." I quite agree. They are gorgeous and unique.
"Now I really feel the landscape, I can be bold and include every tone of blue and pink: it's enchanting, it's delicious"...Claude Monet