That’s it! I’m done! Although it took a little longer than I had planned, I did find the abstract shapes pretty easily and the colours were delightful to work with – I’ll have to do some more with this palette.

My next painting will a cool secluded forest and I get to start it tomorrow – yay Canada Day! And then after that it’s on to a commission.

I was really hoping to have this finished by now – I’m so close! Don’t get me wrong I love making this one (ok I love making them all lately ), but I have finally decided on my next one (cool contemplative forest coming up!) so I’m ready to get to it. I just have to finish the centre area with more leaves and stems. I don’t want to rush it and wreck it so I will just take as long as I take. I’ve got another flower planned for later in the year (pinks and purples and turquoise – oh my!) and I think it needs to be bigger than the sunflowers – maybe 3 x 4.

I’ve now done three of the four flowers. Even though it is supposedly more compositionally pleasing to have odd numbers of things, I think these four look very well together. I love these reds and oranges placed against the warm greens of the leaves – and also the odd splash of cobalt green which brings that touch of blue to it.

Finished the top flower and getting a good sense of the rhythm of the painting. The top right will be the darkest area and I have yet to tackle the tangle of leaves and stems in the center.

I wish I could show you how vibrant this painting is turning out in real life. The little jpg is just not doing it justice. I love painting flowers – I get to play with such vibrant colour!

I love sunflowers. In this painting the flowers are writhing like flames.  I love the sinuous motion of the petals and leaves. Maybe I will think of a better title that involves fire in some way.  And I love the palette I’m using – all the cadmiums are complemented beautifully by cobalt green. It has such a lovely blue cast to it, the contrast between it and the oranges is just delightful.