Flowers, Plants and Trees

So!  Been in the workroom a couple hours already this morning and did a couple smalls based on some photos in my bin.  I haven't even placed the painting of the succulent even close to the mandala yet and the colors may not correspond; if not, I'll have some more work to do making it more of the greens that are in the photo.  I think the poppies will work though.  The actual flowers are not really visible in this photo since the angle is weird, but I think they will be okay once I mount the canvas with the rest.

Flowers are my comfort zone:  I love them, I have painted them lots, they mean happiness to me, I don't ever think flowers or weeds are ugly, they are nature, we are connected to our plants and flowers and of course trees, they smell good, they look good, they feel good, they convey living and breathing on the earth, etc. etc.  I could go on and on about the story of flowers that is always in my head.  But, I won't.

I will take a breath and get ready to work on another landscape for September at Sutter Gallery.  Maybe after a little meditation break in the backyard, yes with my flowers, plants and trees.

A Sunflower

This sunflower's petals are falling down all over itself, and that's what I love about it. I love it's ability to still be attractive even in its floppiness, in its not so pristine and perfect existence.  It can stand in the hottest summer air and thrive just because of the heat, it also has a thick and tough stem so that it can withstand the stiffest of winds that sometimes come to the open fields and gardens where sunflowers grow.  It can sustain itself for weeks in a vase of fresh and clean water but do not let the water get stinky and smelly or our Ms. Sunshine says au revoir.

Each painting is a story, lots of times a painting is a metaphor for life's adventures in the simplest of forms.  When one puts lots of them together in the form of a mandala, then what great stories we may conjure as we slowly take in each little "small" painting.

Onto Sunflowers

Well!  Here we are with my daily paintings (that I have not done daily).  I have 3 more done and they are small landscapes in which I've tried to keep within the color confines of my mandala.  I may need to go back and lighten/darken as necessary when I am finishing off the overall painting, dunno.  Then again I may like the differences in view of the necessary part of my brain that dictates to me about not being a part of the ordinary crowd.  I'm the artist and the one making the decisions...I am the Queen of Everything!!!

Here are the most recent three:

As one can see from this one laying on my work table, I am finishing off the sides as I go.

This second one is two trees, one bushy and one a more confined type...I see that I may need to take out one though...looks confusing now that I am done with it.

Third little gem is trees in the background with long weeds in the foreground while keeping the edge of the mandala in place...maybe the weeds are too dark.  I'll make this decision later.

Okay so...onto the next small.  I am wondering about a new idea for another one of these little guys.  I haven't done any flowers yet, hummmm...yellow sunflower?  Yay!