Twiggy - Flowering Plum

 Twiggy - Flowering Plum

6x8, soft pastel

Continuing with my spring flower theme...there’s nothing like seeing all the flowering trees in the spring. I paint a neighborhood scene almost every year because there are so many flowering plum and crabapple trees around. It’s easy to get a jump on spring by forcing the blooms from a few twigs (as this painting depicts). It’s such a fun thing to do in late winter when you simply can’t wait for spring to begin.

Perseverance

 4am Comforts of Home

“Perseverance”

12x16 pastel

This finished piece will always remind me of the dark days of 2020. The year was so challenging for almost everyone on earth as we battled the COVID19 pandemic. I started the piece as a simple still life. Always waking very early each day, I found the shaft of light hitting my teapot and desktop one morning particularly comforting. The idea for it came early in our first lockdown in March 2020. 

I added a couple summer blooms as the progress on it slowed to an eventual standstill. Later in the fall I added the shawl in the background and while it added to the sense of comfort I was seeking, I would continue to wrestle with it off and on throughout the remainder of the year. 

I guess the struggle with this piece was fitting for the times. It wasn’t until late winter, January 2021 that I was able to resolve this piece and finish it as I intended so many months before. Now looking at it, the faint light reminds me to always keep faith and hope alive. It reminds me of mankind’s perseverance and the eventual light we have found at the end of this long tunnel. The light now representing the vaccines which are being rolled out around the world bringing us hope for a brighter future. May God bless the world’s population as we soldier on through this pandemic and supply us all with faith, hope, goodwill, and most of all perseverance.

Blooming Begonias

Blooming Begonias

6x6, soft pastel

When looking for a bunch of flowers at the grocery store to purchase for a floral scene, these begonias caught my eye.  I just love the soft yet vibrant colors!  Both of my grandmas had begonias from time to time...their sweet blooms are near and dear to my heart.  (day 30 of the #stradaeasel challenge, previously posted to Facebook on Jan. 30th)