Scarlet Buds - Floral Oil Painting

Scarlet Buds

6" x 6"

Oil on panel

SOLD

Over the past few years, I get in the mood to paint flowers in the spring and summer. I keep experimenting with different techniques, styles, mediums, formats, etc.-- all in the search to find my voice in the world of painted flowers. I don't feel I've fully found that voice, yet I really like the experiments in their own right.

What I like about this is that it feels more like a portrait. I like the gestural quality of the "pose", if you will. It says something more to me than just the flower -- so that's a positive step forward on the floral journey.

It's definitely more on the realism side than previous floral attempts, yet it still has that loose palette-knife quality I love so much (the background is done with a brush). Most of my older floral paintings were heavy impasto, so the thinness of this one is intriguing to me. I did a series of these that I'll post over the next while.

The search continues.

(The search also continues for a blog template I like. I'll keep tinkering.)