Oil on Canvas: Shari’s Poppies Painting
I painted these poppies with oil on canvas, using a photo from a garden magazine as inspiration. I’m not a plein-air live subject purist; I’ve even painted the face of a woman in a margarine advertisement. She became Mother Earth. But that’s another story.
I’m not a fan of idealistic flower paintings…I’m not sure what the genre is. Let’s call it extra super sweet. (I don’t mind sweet without the superlatives; if I’m honest with myself, most of my stuff is at least sort of sweet…but not extra super sweet. Just so we’re clear).
All that to say, this painting was a bit of a departure for me, in its unadulterated sweet pinkness (not my only departure though; there’s still Candace’s Mother in Law’s Poppies, and The Roses Jennifer Brought With The Pear Becky Didn’t Eat). But I loved the play of aqua, green and ochre with pink in the magazine photo, and when I grew poppies that turned out to have the same color markings (from seed given to me by a friend), I had to paint them.
I remember “ah, so that’s how it goes” epiphanies as I painted. I learned things. Which things I wish I could remember now with a snap, instead of gradually through the course of another painting (or two). I loved how the painting “read”, when I was done, the paint strokes, the texture as a whole. I want to capture that groove for keeps… it is mysterious to me why sometimes painting goes so well, almost intuitively, and sometimes it doesn’t.
When an artist relinquishes one of her works, she has the right to say that it belongs to a private collection. Which sounds so…I don’t know. Park Avenue? Fifth? Therefore. By the powers vested in me, I can say (with Tiffany blue confidence) that this painting is part of my friend Shari’s private collection now, since Shari has it (last I checked) and doesn’t live in a museum (which would make it public? rather than private?).
It is another small painting, 16″ X 20″.
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Lynaea I love the painting also and am jealous that it is not hanging in my house….although I also love the ones I DO HAVE. I consider myself very lucky!!! Just a note I am going to close my g-mail account so do not send any more info to that account. Thanks Love you
So impressive. I would love to hang a painting like this on my wall.
Tammy recently posted…My Top 5 Reasons and Tips for Growing Nasturtiums and a Page from My Watercolor Flower Journal
Thank you for visiting, Tammy, and leaving the kind compliment. Compliments always make my day. (=
Your blog is lovely, by the way.
Very beautiful, I am in awe. I love poppies, I don’t paint so all I can do is take pictures :).
I have one photo from the poppy field in Provence that came out (totally by accident) like a painting and I just love it. It’s in this post if you are interested.
http://www.pret-a-vivre.com/2013/07/poppy-field-of-provence.html
Thank you for visiting us and leaving the nice comment.
Have a great week!
Your photos of your travels are gorgeous. And yes, they read like paintings… the poppies are unbelievably profuse and saturated with color.
Thanks for visiting back (=
Lovely painting. So peaceful. Found your blog on the closet intellectuals blog.
Cortne
Thank you! Nice to meet you!
Absolutely stunning! Shari is very lucky to have such a lovely piece of art in her collection 🙂
Thank you Angie! Glad you visited and took it in.
And it is gorgeous! My favorite art in the whole house. I must also, by extension then, be somewhat Park Avenue-esque since I have a ‘private collection’. Love your paintings Lynaea!
Thank you Shari! You are Park Avenue-esque in the best sense of the word (which should appear in some important dictionary right away, since we’ve used it three times now). You have wonderful taste without being a snob. Just one more thing to love about you.