"Dizzy" Lily

It's that time of year again...the lillies are blooming again!  This painting has some "Dizzy" lillies with a tipped dahlia and some white roses.  This is a combined plein air work then finished indoors.  The moving sunlight at the particular angle I chose required a lot of setup movement and right before losing the sun I snapped a photo to finish from.  What working from life with a flower like an Oriental Lily does, is really allow some of the character of the flower to show. 

I buy my lily bulbs from Breck's Bulbs and plant them up in the fall.  Last fall I added in more "Dizzy", "Simplon", "Lombardia", and more "Stargazer" bulbs.  They all need staking and must be kept away from cats who cannot be around their pollen.  They provide a lot more beauty than trouble growing: no insects or snails seem to bother them even.

The painting is on a 12"x16" linen covered board from Dick Blick.  I chose not to tone the canvas.  The roses were intentionally ignored this time to draw attention to the other flowers.  I'm already onto the next, I collected a large clear glass vase full of the lillies to paint!

Dizzy Lily
12"x16" oil on linen covered board
ckm 2013

Sunflowers in a Blue Vase

Now how could these bold orange-yellow sunflowers in a blue vase not be painted?  Sure, it's a little loud, but there's no getting around that.  I had to take an unintended rest break in the midst of working on this, so several weeks passed after beginning.  Enjoy!

Sunflowers in a Blue Vase
ckm 2013