Holi II

25 x 37" original oil

sold

Six months ago I painted "Holi I" knowing I'd want to paint the full reference later. Here it is! I was leaving the Thanksgiving Point Gardens after a full day's photographing, and in the front entrance there in the setting sun was this bed of tulips with pansies behind catching that late sun face-on. I took a few more pics and they were just great. I love the variety of shapes and movement in this piece. The color is also so varied; there is really a rainbow from top to bottom. Normally I prefer to paint back lit flowers to show off their transparency, but this front lit view is also nice because you can get the little reflected shines in the waxy petals as they turn. This painting has so many brush strokes in it. Well, all of my paintings do, but this one feels like it has an extra amount of them. Whoever buys this piece will see what I mean when they look at it up close! Thanks to my friend Cindy who came over to watch me paint for a bit one afternoon. She saw a little of the magic happening.

brushwork close up

painting the greenery background

painting the background and top blossoms

palette #1 and #2

remixing palette #3

remixing palette #4

 Lots of mixing - lots of colors. I love to mix my own colors. If you didn't know, the title "Holi" comes from that color throwing festival every beginning of spring, and I believe it's a tradition from India. It celebrates spring and new beginnings. I have never been, but a  lot of my friends attend the festival every year and come  home covered in colored chalk dust. It looks pretty cool.