Things are bloomin' around here!

Last week was a full week painting inside and out!

Monday was the last day of my teaching "Mondays In May" in the studio. I really enjoyed teaching in the studio this past month, it was really casual and amazingly productive. It's incredibly inspiring to be surrounded by painters who are so eager to paint and learn! Thanks painters for sharing a part of your journey with me!
Monday evening was HOT! My daughter Paige and I grabbed a burger and a coke at a local place in town, packed our paints and headed to the beaver dam to paint the hot sun going down. There is nothing like ending a summer day painting your favorite place with one of your favorite people in the world! Paige was a trooper and brought a good book and a set of Windsor Newton Watercolors. A muskrat and a beaver popped up to say hello to her. :) (surprised her a bit. . .)

8x10 oil on linen

"Just Before Sundown"

Good friends, Martin and Richard own the Squire House Gardens in Afton MN. I spent a full day painting one of the many varieties of Martin's tenderly cared for peonies. What an inspiring place to be! (in so many levels)

The end of the week I ended up in the studio beaten up a bit by the heat at this point. Like I've already said, things are really blooming like crazy around here and early this year. I'm sure most people are not sitting around stressing about this fact like I am, but boy AM I! I have such an indescribable desire and hunger to paint everything as it blooms that I drive myself half crazy. They just don't last long enough but I think that's part of the drive for me, to get it so I have it captured from life on canvas, and it is not up to me when they decide to present themselves. If I didn't work and respond from life this would not be a problem but I do and it's what I think keeps my mind and paint fresh. When I'm painting from life it's almost like I'm connected with what I am painting, it's truth in response.

Thursday morning I had a dear friend drop by the studio with this LOVELY bunch of White Peonies! (hers were open before mine and I was concerned with my show in FLA this week that I would be gone when mine opened) They were so lush and fragrant sweet smelling that I simply stuck them in one of my favorite vases and started to paint. Not a simple painting to have done, but after two days of solid painting here we are! I will say, I've painted a lot of flowers from life and I do believe that white peonies are the most difficult ones to paint. It is a focus thing! Keeping lights and darks together and cools and warms is your saving grace here.

This bunch of peonies was like painting a melting ice cream cone! They were going quickly!
"Peonies From Mary's Garden"
20x16 oil on linen

I haven't had a chance to take a good photo yet but you get the idea. . . the color is a bit off. . . .I'll re shoot it after my show in Florida next week.