Happy New Year Flowers

Guess I'm the odd woman-out: I've always

loved birthdays: the start of a new year,

the fact that I'm alive and usually well, and the chance

to celebrate in any way I choose....

Which, this year was going to be a quiet drink (or two) with two buddies nestled on the deck while listening to birds and watching the sun set over the mountains.  Lovely...could it get any better?

Well, it did.  A "long time-no see" friend wandered up the steps and joined us bringing more laughs and more wine.  And then another...and another...and...suddenly I realized the gang of friends had grown, quietly and calmly and the deck was filled with love and laughter.  But wait!  There's more.

Unbeknownst to me they had all brought mason jars filled with flowers from their gardens, the fields, the neighbors yard....all picked with care and offered up to me as a living color tribute to our friendship and the new year I was embarking upon.  Yes, my heart swelled.

I enjoyed the gifts as only an artist can: painted them all and then rearranged them and painted them again...

working bliss in the studio

A Birthday Bouquet

'' 14 x  11'', oil, framed

(there is an asparagus as well as rosemary in this bouquet) 

Love in a Jar

" 8 x 6", oil, framed
(note the flaming azaleas and the mountain laurel)

still more flowers so I made a new arrangement

(note the lupine curving on the right, one of my new favs,

look closely and you will also see mint, garlic

and assorted blooms)

Wild Flowers Boxed

12" x 24", oil, currently unframed

And I learned something while painting.  My heart was totally in this, no angst over details because the results were purely for my pleasure and the joy of preserving these lovely gifts. Well, I think they turned out rather nicely, don't you?  Details be damned, the process won out!

Color Fully Yours,

Cindy