nan's peonies

16x12

oil on linen

 

so after golf on Tuesday I went to my friend nan's house to pick a few of these gorgeous deep rose peonies!...I was unfamiliar with this type..i'm mostly used to white and pink but these are fantastical!!..I had them set up by Wednesday but haven't had a chance to get up there to paint til after we got the yard done...getting close!...so this afternoon I found them almost fading.. petals falling.. .. so i painted them fallen petals and all...wanted to post this ..but I may revisit it and work on the petals a bit more.. but all in all I think I'm happy with it!!

second peony painting

so this is 20x16.. I turned the vase so we're seeing the short side of the rectangle...I have been busy around here...yard work.. a bit of golf...and more yard work.. so I haven't been able to paint for the last several days...I picked more peonies today...white ones from nancy, the peony lady..(with permission)...gorgeous deep rose ones from my friend nan's yard...and soft pink ones from my friend marjie's yard...she's gone to michigan and is not able to appreciate them so.. I will help her with that!!!!!.....hope to get back to the studio in the next day or two... it may rain for the next ten days.. so that's LOTS of painting!!!

so here's my first peony painting

so this is 18x18...I fiddled so much getting this set up.. pears?.. no pears?..leaves?...this first one I turned the vase lengthwise..if that makes sense...I just filled the vase to the brim and also stuck one pink peony from my own yard in there!...these are so gorgeous.. I did these on Thursday and by now the blossoms are really falling apart.. it's just a shame that peony season is so damn short!!

can't wait!!!!!

I don't know why this photo is so dark!..  but I am super encited..(as my kiddoes used to say)..here's what happened:..i almost persuaded myself to golf today...but it was a tad chilly this morning..and then it got gorgeous and it was already too late to join the girls..so I got busy around here..planted my six upstairs flower boxes and weeded and planted my zinnias in the circle in the back that used to be our whirlpool...(some of you remember those days...)..then on our daily bike ride we happened upon a yard just covered with white peony plants.. I mean COVERED!!!!... the lady of the house was just getting out of her car and of course I asked her if I might come back later and pick a few for painting purposes.. this time I got the go-ahead!!..unlike the poppy lady..but that's ok..so we finished our ride..stopping at krogers for yogurt for the girls and cilantro for our tacos...while there we totally JAMMED up one of the express lane stations..they were trying to charge us $101.81 for one avocado.. I think it had something to do with my entering our phone number while Davey was scanning..it thought we had 81 of them!!..anyway.. we scurried out after alerting the lady and averting our eyes from the angry stares from some of the shoppers...I digress..i couldn't wait to get home and right back to the peony house!!.. I took a fast count.. she must have more than thirty large bushes and I cut from all over so as not to have it be too noticeable..i chose 16 opened blooms and 5 buds..when I couldn't roust her at any of her doors...i left my card under the windshield wiper on her car..i thanked her for allowing me to use her gorgeous peonies for a few paintings I have in mind..now I am torn.. yard work?..peony painting?..yardwork?...nah!!!!!.. I can't wait for tomorrow!!

poppy tryptic

so here's a photo of the tryptic I've been working on..each panel is 40x16..this photo is taken in my kitchen so the lighting is not so hot!..thinking I may be done but mulling it for a while..the rain stopped long enough yesterday to go play some golf..very brutal rough and horrid greens..but not too shabby for early days..actually hit some good shots along the way..tomorrow I'm done with tennis for the year..and then it's on to golf golf golf...and maybe some painting thrown in there too!..after I get my flowers planted, of course.....

back in the studio....yeah!!!!!

ok.. so I've been very busy since we got home.. really worked on my house..dinner party a huge success..thanks mostly to the chef!!..and we got the house organized in the meantime!!.. so we were riding our bikes yesterday.. we passed this yard with a whole mess of poppies.. I was drooling of course!!..love me some poppies...so later, after I retrieved paintings from the eye place..and thanks to them for the opportunity for the last two years...they will soon be moving next to the fire station...anyway.. I swung by the poppy house..armed with some scissors and water and a business card...I rang the bell...the lady who answered was lovely.. I gave her my card so she wouldn't freak out.. told her I was planning some poppy paintings and would she mind if I took some photos and perhaps cut a few here and there...she said she wouldn't mind if I photographed but they were only blooming for a week and she'd rather I didn't cut any!... fair enough!!.. so I took several pics..and then started this tryptic.. 40 inches high by 18 wide I think..you can't tell a lot since it's in the beginning stages but i'll post more tomorrow...having lots of fun being back in the studio at last!!!!