Steps

10 x 10" original oil

sold

These tulips were growing at the entrance to the Tulip Festival. They grow about three inches off the ground and were surrounded on all sides by taller clumps of tulips, so they were really hard to photograph. 

My favorite thing about this piece is the variety of colors within the white. The lime green and rust patches play against the turquoise and magenta. 

This was a very hard painting to complete. I began it two weeks ago-ish, outdoors at the Tulip Festival. I set my easel up in the garden and after a few hours had to break everything down and go home as my easel and painting had blown over twice and my hand print was stamped firmly in the middle of my wet painting. It was so windy! Without getting too personal, I then went to Idaho for five days to help with and attend a beautiful funeral of a close family member on my husband's side. 

I spent four hours this morning just on two blossoms. 

As I was finishing the last blossom, I thought about how many steps I had to take to finish this piece: steps within each petal as well as steps over a three week period. I then thought of how many steps one takes to get over a difficult time in life whether they are grieving or learning a new way to live. It's what I was thinking about today, and what I'm thinking about has a way of working itself into my titles. 

I hope you enjoy it! Hard things are done one step at a time.