Pink Peonies

 

16 x 20 inches - oil on canvas board - Here is the first of a series of floral portraits I painted recently.

Peonies in the Morning

 

9 x 12 inches - oil on linen board - I tend to jump around when it comes to both subjects and style. I suppose I could stick to one thing and perfect it. That might sell more and increase the popularity of my work. However, that would not be as much fun for me and I would not learn as much. So I will probably continue to do a series of a few at a time and then move on to something else. I hope you will have patience with me as I try to become a better artist. For inspiration and ideas I draw on a lifetime of experiences including travel, places I have lived, visits to family and just plain imagination. You will find subjects from Peterborough, the small town where I live along with our gardening experiences there, Stratford where we spend a lot of time particularly in the summer, from Hawaii where we have visited three times, from Rondeau Park a small bay on the north shore of Lake Erie where I spent a lot of my youth....etc. etc. You will also find portraits of pets that I have done by request mostly. Getting a portrait made of your pets is a good thing to do, because I am often asked to recreate an image of a pet that has passed. The most valuable thing you can do is to take a photo at eye level of your pet while they are with you and you will not regret the effort.

Before the Rain

 

8 x 8 inches - oil on hardboard - If you don't pick your peonies before a heavy rain, you might just find them on the ground.

Pink Peony

 

8 x 8 inches - oil on hardboard - I can't remember the name of this one. It might be Angel Cheeks. Let's just call it pink.

John's Dream

 

12 x 9 inches - oil on hardboard - This is a beautiful and fairly rare peony.

Pink and White Peony

 6 x 6 inches - oil on hardboard - Peonies have got to be among the most dependable performers in our garden. Plant them and forget them for 40 years or so.

White and Pink Peony

6 x 6 inches - Oil on Gessoboard - I try to resist the urge to fiddle near the end of a painting. It used to be the case that after a solid rain, all the peonies were lying on the ground. That is because the old ones were bred for indoor floral arrangements where fragrance and large flowers were prized. The newer varieties have stronger stems which gives a better display in the garden.

Peony - Coral Sunset

6 x 6 inches - oil on gessoboard - This is one of the newer varieties with strong stems that do not fold over in the first storm.

Peony - Pastel Elegance

6 x 6 inches - oil on gessoboard - Every year we love to visit Blossom Hill Nursery in Peterborough when the peonies are in bloom.  There is not enough room in our garden for all of them but it is great to see them while they are on display.

Peony - Golden Wheel

6 x 6 inches - oil on gessoboard - Yellow peonies are special and still not very common.

Bartzella

6 x 6 inches - oil on gessoboard - This is the last of  the peony portraits for a while. I am painting green but it is going to read yellow.......I am painting green but it is going to read yellow. Sometimes I think that our brain is our worst enemy. The peony's name is 'Bartzella'. Whether or not I have managed to capture it, this is just about the showiest Itoh peony you will ever see. - blooms as large as dinner plates on a sturdy plant with a long bloom time.

Charles White

6 x 6 inches - oil on gessoboard - Here is another peony 'Charles White' a nice bright white.

Katherine

6 x 6 inches - oil on gessoboard - This is 'Katherine', a peony that has a wonderful habit of occasionally throwing a dark pink ribbon at the edges of the petals.

Angel Cheeks

6 x 8 - Oil on Gessoboard - Here is another peony. These modern varieties are not your Grandmother's floppy ones. This one is called Angel Cheeks.

Do Tell

6 x 6 inches - oil on hardboard  Do Tell is the name of this peony. The colours really stand out from a distance. I have not posted for a little while due to medical issues, now in recovery but I am going to post a few peony portraits that I did before.  Here is the first of them.

White Peony

6 x 6 inches - oil on gessoboard - The newer varieties of peonies are so much different than the traditional varieties that were bred to be cut flowers but not to stand up to wind and rain. The new ones usually perform well in the garden and many put on spectacular displays. Peonies are also easy to maintain.

Bowl of Beauty

6" x 7" oil on hardboard

This peony is actually called "Bowl of Beauty" so it seemed right to paint it this way.