OKAY, I GIVE UP!

Orchid in Bloom
20" x 20"
oil on gallery wrapped canvas

I don't know why I paint flowers. Really. 

I see gorgeous flowers when we are out and about, and I am compelled to photograph them. I can't help myself!

And then, when I am thinking of what to paint, one of those flowers will come to mind, and I find myself on my computer searching for that picture.

Once I have drawn it on the canvas, and begun to paint it, I ask myself, "Why did I choose to paint a flower? I don't even really LIKE painting flowers!" So I sigh, and continue working to complete the painting on the canvas. And once completed, I think they look okay.

"Orchid in Bloom" is one of the many blossoms we have had on the plant our realtor gave us as a housewarming gift a year ago. The blooms are so perfect it is hard to believe they are not plastic. I have always killed any orchids I had before, but this one is extra hardy I think, as it is still thriving.

I was at The Cooperative this week, painting yet another flower (to enter into a show), when a lady came in and asked if I was the artist who had the sunflower painting hanging on the wall. Yes, that's me, I said. She asked me when I was going to teach how to paint flowers at The Cooperative. A short time before she came in, another artist who was painting there asked me if I was going to teach how to paint flowers because he would sign up right now. A few weeks ago, a beginning artist asked if I taught how to paint flowers.  And, while I was at The Cooperative, an experienced and well known artist was giving a class in abstract painting. Each of his students drifted over to see what I was working on (that flower I mentioned), and one of the students asked if I taught how to paint flowers... 

And, I have a commission waiting for me to begin, which is...wait for it...ta da....a painting of a Violet!!!

Hmmmm...I see a pattern emerging here. So, I am thinking of giving in and teaching a class on how to paint flowers either in November/December or in January/February. Now I will need to paint more flowers and pay attention to how I actually proceed through a painting! 

I am thinking of teaching sunflowers, because they make me feel happy and I have lots of experience painting them in several mediums! In fact, one which I painted a couple of years ago in acrylic just went to a silent auction fundraiser for cervical cancer. Yup, I think it will be sunflowers.

So, what's your favorite flower? And what about colors? What colors do you love for your flowers?