Hydrangea 5

Hydrangea 5 (oil pastel on canvas, 7" x 9", 2004) is one of many works I have done from photos of my gorgeous hydrangeas. In 2002, the soil pH must have been perfect; I've never seen such deep, intense violet in the blooms. This particular composition was pulled from one of the photos that year. I zeroed in on one tiny segment of a flower and was fascinated by the beautiful shapes and colors swirling around that intensely white center. It had an other-worldly feel about it which I explored further in sequential works. Tune in next week for a very special post from that series.

Iris Leaves

Iris Leaves (10" x 7", oil pastel, 2004) is one of my first works using oil pastels over an inkjet print. I had a lot of fun with the colors; it was something of a challenge to make a tangle of iris leaves into a colorful composition.

The iris bed itself is quite a challenge. What made me stick a flower bed in a long stretch of yard? Must have been temporary insanity. Not only do I have to mow around it, but the irises went wild and multiplied all over the place, and then the wildlife moved in (bunnies everywhere), and weeds sneaked up on me, and now a six-foot pine tree and two comparable elms are in there, shading out the irises. They must have grown while I was out to lunch. Fortunately I photographed the leaves before entrophy set in.

Iris Leaves is in the collection of First Charter Financial Center in Concord, NC.

"Hosta 2"

Hosta 2 (oil pastel, 11.5" x 7", 2005) is what resulted when I tried to compose from the helter-skelter cascade of hosta leaves in one of my flower beds. The plants always start small and everything fits with everything else, but give a hosta an inch and it'll take over the whole bed. When I was photographing the plant, I noticed a tiny head peeping out from behind the leaves, and then the whole critter (a skink) inched out and posed for me.

This hosta is huge. On warm weather nights, my dog delights in mouthing toads (bad for her and not so good for them), so I do "frog patrol" in the fenced yard before she comes out. The ones I rescue are tossed over the fence onto the cushiony hosta. Sometimes there will be several tiers of the warty things, probably wondering how they got there!

Butterfly 2

Butterfly 2 (9.5" x 5.75", oil pastel, 2005) is probably not a prize-winning painting, but I really enjoyed doing it, mainly because I love the way the colors sing against the black. When I was in school, using pure black was not in vogue. Not much I was doing was "in vogue" anyway, so when I graduated I decided to make a conscious effort to put at least one area of solid black in all my art. That worked pretty well with the architectural subjects that I painted for so many years. I still love to use it, though the initial need to rebel is long gone. The Tiger Swallowtail is one of my favorite butterflies - this is my tribute.