Asters, Salvia
August 4, 2014 § 2 Comments
Watercolor
10″x14″
So many flowers, so little summer! With a big show coming up, I’m painting all day and all evening. That’s a pretty nice complaint to have, isn’t it?
Stargazer
May 13, 2014 § Leave a comment
Lilies are coming around again this year–many more to come in the next several weeks. Isn’t it interesting how plants come back year after year, the same in species, but each one a different individual? Many new paintings are now deep in the plants, growing every day toward full bloom.
Jonquils, Guinea Hen Flowers
May 11, 2014 § Leave a comment
Watercolor, 19″x25″
These guinea hen fritillaries are the among the most interesting flowers I’ve ever painted. They bloomed for several weeks, each flower lasting about 10 days. The checkered pattern of the petals is just amazing: makes you speculate about the working of DNA to create a checkered petal. They remind me of the poem in praise of “dappled things.”
Forsythia, Quince, Oregon Grape Holly
May 10, 2014 § 2 Comments
Once again, finally, Spring is coming back. It’s been a memorably long and severe winter, and the earliest flowers, like the forsythia, and the flowers of the Oregon grape holly, have never been more welcome. My garden had no quince shrub, and when other gardeners’ quince began to show color, plant envy led to yet another trip to the nursery. The color of quince flowers is unusual, a pink-orange-almost red that is rare in spring. In fact, I can’t think of another flower at this season that is anything like quince, hence its great allure in March.
Of course the pure yellow of forsythia is an icon of early spring, so much so that I was reluctant to make it a big part of a painting. However, there was no denying the pull of the opening buds, all alone in borders and highway plantings. As for Oregon grape holly, I had never had cut branches in the studio, and didn’t know that these unassuming little flowers have a sweet, resinous fragrance that is almost like turpentine, irresistible to bees, and now to me.
Star of Bethlehem, One Rose
April 24, 2014 § Leave a comment
A flower new to my watercolor work–not the rose, of course, which is a mainstay of the garden palette, but the Ornithogalum, called the Star of Bethlehem, which, in the painting, is the tall spires at the back. They are supposed to naturalize well, but only time will tell if that is true.
Detail of Hellebores, Tulips
April 24, 2014 § 1 Comment
Late winter verging early Spring used to be a nothing time in the garden. Since the hybridizers started working on hellebores, things have changed. Except for the recent and unlamented harsh winter, we can now have the extraordinary beauty of hellebores, in clear new colors, as early as February. This is the first time I’ve painted these wonderful plants and flowers, but it won’t be the last. This photo shows only a detail of the full painting.
Marcia Mitchell 