THE STORY BEHIND THE PAINTING

There is nothing like a good story, don't you think? Whether it's in a book, a movie, a YouTube video, a t.v. series, or on a blog, stories can be wonderful!

There is a story behind my latest painting, which is now complete and soon flying to its new home!

The couple who commissioned the painting had done a fair amount of traveling before having children. There were certain cities that they absolutely loved, and others that would never make the "travel list" again. Ultrasounds today are fairly accurate, so when they found out their first child was to be a girl, they decided to name her after their favorite city in Europe. As a middle name, they decided on one of their favorite flowers - Rose. It just so happened that I was having an art show that year, and I had a 20" x 20" painting of a rose. They decided that their first gift to their first child would be an original piece of art reflecting her middle name, so they bought the painting of a rose.

About a year later, they were again expecting a child - and this was also a girl. They named her after another European city they had fallen in love with, and her middle name was another favorite flower - Lily. I had two 16" x 16" paintings of white lilies which I had completed that year (I did not know their plans for the name), so they chose one, and bought that for their second little girl.

They have now had their 3rd baby girl, and yes! she is also named after a European city, with Violet as her flower/middle name. So, following in tradition, they asked me to paint a dark purple violet, somewhere in between the sizes of the last two paintings. So, here is their 18" x 18" Violet, ready to be hung on the wall of their little girl who is now about 6 months old.

What a unique and fabulous first gift for each girl from her parents! I have also done portraits of the first two girls, and when the third is old enough, I will be doing hers as well. I love that the parents value art, and will definitely be teaching their family to value it as well. I also love that I get to be their artist!  :-)

Violet
20" x 20" oil on standard canvas