In Bloom

My plum blossoms seem to be eveybodies favorites! I always think of my Grandmother when I paint tree limbs. I remember her painting crooked limbs on Chinese boxes.

Magnolias

This pair is of magnolias. The painting on the left is on card with gold fleck, the other is on the smooth cream card. I enjoy playing with color and the shape of stems. One small change can change everything.

Cycles

These two small paintings are representing 2 of the phases of the lotus life cycle. They are both on 3" x 3" cards.

Lotus Bloom

This Lotus has a lustrous background. I bought some pearlized paint and thought it matched the pink of the bloom. Sometimes the background is the hardest part to paint. These cards are 4" x 6" each.

Lotus Bud

This one is another of the "mosaic style" paintings I have been doing. They are quick to paint, so I paint them while other paintings are drying. I like how the bud turned out, and the shading of the upper leaf.

Tulip cards

This is a mosaic of tulips. I need to head out to the chop man and have a new chop made for this one. The bud on the left does have a stem, but the scanner just wouldn't pick it up, it is so faint. Each of these cards is only 3 inches square, so this is quite small. After I chop the painting, I think it will look good in a "shadow box" style frame.

Purple Iris on a gold card

I decided to cover several gold cards with a light wash of blue. Then I dried them with my blow dryer. That created an interesting effect on the cards which created an interesting background and toned down the intense gold color.

These two photos are of the same card, but I thought it might be fun to show how it looks framed in a pre-made Chinese frame I bought from the art shop down in Central. There really isn't any need to run down to the framer's when I can use these cute little frames. Cards are approx. 5" x 5.5"

Purple Iris on a cream card

Staying with the Iris theme, this card has a different texture so when I paint on it, the brush seems to glide across the paper. The gold paper, which is rougher, it seems I really have to push the brush to lay down the paint. This little one is only chopped, I really couldn't find a good spot to sign it. It's all about balance.

Under the Lotus Leaf

This is another one of the gold cards with a light wash of blue. The paint just sort of sits on the gold paper, so it takes a while to dry.

5" x 5.5"

Two crane paintings

These two I worked on simultaneously. While one dried, I worked on the other, then switched back so the second one could dry. There are many layers of paint on these two. They were fun to paint. It's fun to see how different two similar paintings can be.

Flowers

These little paintings are done on long cards and then placed into tall frames I purchased at the art shop. These are only a few of the flowers I have painted on the cards. They are good fun, but there is no room for any mistakes!

Japanese Temple

I painted this one a few years ago and gave it to my sister. This is a famous temple in Japan, surrounded by cherry blossoms.

Purple Iris

I love these flowers. I used to have some in my garden back home. I would throw the bulbs out into the yard and plant them wherever they landed! When spring came, they would brighten up even the darkest corner of the yard!