Jardin de Fleurs

I have wanted to dig back into my long stem series for a while and have combined the flowers from my front yard to create this bigger piece.  Somehow digging back into my high school French for flower paintings feels right.   This painting and others are on display at the Twin Falls Center for the Arts as part of the South Central Regional Idaho Watercolor Society Show.  Good fun and good comments last night at the opening!   

Long Stem Series - Hollyhocks

I painted this piece at the Sawtooth Botanical Gardens during one of our South Central Region of Idaho Watercolor Society second Tuesday painting sessions.  We have beautiful weather and I found these hollyhocks captured my attention.  They took me back to my college days and the Sorority house where I spent so much time.  The house had  hollyhocks growing all along the south side and I enjoyed seeing them each summer.

Long Stem Series - Blanket Flowers

Finally, the next addition to the Long Stem Series.  I have a lot of Blanket Flowers (Gaillardia) in my flower garden and they brighten the garden now that the daisies are gone.  They are drought tolerant and plentiful.  The seed pods are fun to paint, and the flowers a challenge with the brick red flowing into a bright yellow.  

Long Stem Series - Daisies

Here is the third component to the Long Stem Series. My front yard daisies are four feet tall this year, and prolific.  This piece was challenging in portraying the white of the flower on white paper.