The Whole Bunch

I painted this from a photo reference of the bouquet of daffodils I had picked at my sisters house on Easter morning. I love how the blue vase goes with the embroidered tablecloth that was my mothers. It's not my everyday style, but the curved lines in the tablecloth remind me of Matisse.

I got right over it to take the picture, then kept the shapes very simple and as abstract as I could. The easiest way for me to do this is to keep the photo out of sight, so that I am not slavishly staring at it to get everything precise. I'm not knocking precise, it's just not for me, so this helps to rely on my memory of the daffodils.

Pansies

Who can resist these first harbingers of spring? Wanting to do more immediate daily paintings as I am so immersed in the larger pieces for the show I'm in later this year, felt the need to balance with direct observation. Felt very good to work small with bigger brushes for this piece which is a 6x6 canvas.