Poppy Fantasy

My latest painting is that of Icelandic Poppies. Mixed in are California Poppies too. I painted it as a commissioned piece for a special lady who has worked in my office for the past 35 years and is leaving us.  The Poppy is a flower of remembrance and her favorite flower as I found out. It was a real joy painting this piece. I love the bold colors on a black background which make them pop visually and the random flow of the them on the canvas lets your eye roam around, taking in each one. Hope you enjoy this piece as much as I do.  ~Enjoy

Purity ~ Water Lily 2

Another water lily painting to add my series. This time it has a little more interest, in that one of the lily pads is slowly wasting away, a nice added touch and contrast I think.  I also enjoy the textured appearance of the lily pads and the overall colors in the painting. It's interesting to note that Claude Monet painted 250 oil paintings of water lilies. That's a lot of water lilies! I hope you enjoy this one.

Green Grapes ~ Can't Wait!

Last month I was vacationing in Wine Country (Okanagan Valley, BC).  I visited several famous Wineries and tasted some of their best wines. On one of the many wonderful tours, I had the opportunity to photograph some of the extensive vineyards, which inspired me to paint these green grapes. I really enjoy this piece. Hope you do too. Enjoy!

American Kestrel

A friend of mine who lives in Mexico sent me a photo of this bird that landed on a cactus on his property. His hobby is Photography and he particularly enjoys taking pics of the birds that migrate to his part of Mexico every year. I googled the American Kestrel and discovered that they are the smallest and most common falcons of North America. This small bird is so cute and colorful that it inspired me to paint it. 

Mom's Bouquet ~ Lilacs

My Mother once told me a story about when she was a child, her mother used to cut lilac branches from the bushes in their backyard in early summer, and bring them indoors to scent the whole house. My mother is a senior in her 80's and still talks about how the house smelled so nice. 

Lilacs are one of her favorite flowers, and with that I painted this for her.

My Artbox: Mums in jam jars ~ Chrysanthemums

My Artbox: Mums in jam jars ~ Chrysanthemums

Mums in jam jars ~ Chrysanthemums

I received a couple of floral bouquets last month from a dear friend and after a couple of weeks, most of the flowers died but these little gals remained for some time later. The Chrysanthemums seem to have perished much later than most of the other flowers in the bouquet enabling me to photograph them sitting on one of my glass top tables and paint them for later. Here they are now. 

Five Red Grain Sheds

These old grain sheds can be seen on the way to the Leighton Art Centre. Everyone who has traveled there are sure to pass them along the way. I have seen them painted by other artists with many painting them in their own interpretation. I found them to be kind of quirky and funny looking but an interesting subject to paint.  Not one of them are standing very straight and all are weather-beaten. They seem to be everywhere around the province and some are no longer in use, standing in the fields like little monuments. These appear to be in fairly good condition though.

Enjoy!