BLUE MEADOW - 5 x 9 inches

The sun is brilliant this morning and we're expecting temperatures close to 70!  What a late October treat!  

So, I got my morning watercolor fix and now it's time to take sketchbook and watercolor kit in hand and comb SE Wisconsin to see the last of the colors.  We're looking forward to a wonderful day with our sole mission being a pretty little out-of-the-way lunch spot and a place to paint, read, and soak up the sun.  It doesn't get much better than this!

"Blue Meadow"

5 x 9 inch watercolor on Arches 300# paper

SOLD!

Thanks for looking!

-Nan

BLUE POPPIES AND PODS No. 3 - 8 x 10 inch original watercolor or print

It's a beautiful September day in Wisconsin and as I walk through my garden I see more seed pods than flowers.  The Cleome are hanging with thousands of seeds in their long, skinny pods.  Day Lillies and Snapdragons, only a few meager blooms here and there. But all are loaded with pods close to bursting with seeds so the cycle can continue.  The garden is getting ready to go to sleep.  

So, in order to keep the garden alive in the long winter months to come - some watercolors to remember those long, lazy summer days when the garden was full of blooms.  And what better to paint than some more beautiful blue poppies and pods in their last days of glory.

 My plan was to paint about 7 stems but when I reached 3, it seemed balanced and finished.

Then for my little experiment.  After the first few drops of color around the poppies there was no turning back.

But it worked and this style I've seen other artists use was really fun to do, leaving just a few edges of the poppies bumping out of the background.  I also really like the way the cool blue of the poppies is complemented by the contrast of a warm yellow-green the background provides.

("BLUE POPPIES AND PODS No. 3" in a suggested mat and frame.)

The original painting is available in my Etsy shop by clicking the listing below:

Prints of this painting are also available in three sizes.  Clicking the photo below will take you to my etsy shop, Gillyflower Cottage.

Thanks for looking!

-Nan

BLUE POPPIES No. 3

Day 15 

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I'm back at it with my blue poppies. I think I just love that color in the paintbox!  I'll need another day or two to finish but I'm going to try something different with this one.  First I need to get all the stems on the paper - probably about 5 more flowers and pods in difference stages.  Then IF it works, I'll have Blue Poppies No.3 in my Etsy shop.

I've been looking at antique botanicals lately and they're so intricate!  Below is a red poppy botanical from 1887.  I think I'd need to grow some of my own poppies so I could cut them up and get all these details!  

Thanks for looking!  

-Nan

BLUE POPPIES AND PODS No. 1 - SOLD!

DAY 14

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Today brought an end to my second blue poppy watercolor, Blue Poppies and Pods.  This one is done on 300# Arches paper with Sennelier French watercolors, both archival quality.

"Blue Poppies and Pods"

10.25 x 10.25 inches with deckled edge

(shown above matted and framed - the listing is for the original painting, mat and frame are not included)

*This painting was finished in the evening so lighting was not stellar.  

Background paper is actual a bright off white, not an antique white.

"BLUE POPPIES AND PODS" can be purchased from my Etsy shop by clicking the photo below:

Thanks for looking!

-Nan

MORE BLUE POPPIES

Day 11

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For day 11 of the 30 painting challenge, I'm showing a work in progress.  This is another painting of blue poppies - it will be about 11 x 11 inches when done.  I'm painting this to replace a different blue poppy painting I've had in my living room for awhile.  

To this one, I'll be adding another full bloom, one just opening, and a few pods.

Thanks for looking!
Check back tomorrow when "Blue Poppies" should be finished.

-Nan

BLUE POPPIES No. 2 - SOLD!

Day 5 

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Meconopsis, or the Blue Poppy, is the national flower of Bhutan.  I have learned that this flower was discovered in 1922 by a mountaineer while trying to reach the summit of Mount Everest.  I guess it's hard to grow unless you have really fresh seeds and perfect condition.  

Shoot!  I'm sure Wisconsin doesn't fall into the category of "perfect conditions" but what a gorgeous flower with its crinkly tissue-like petals and interesting seed pods.  I have used archival quality watercolors in shades of blue and turquoise, along with a TechLiner archival quality pen.

In progress. 

 And done!

Just for an idea of what "Blue Poppies" will look like when matted and framed.

And, to purchase "Blue Poppies", click the listing below:

SOLD!

Thanks for looking!

-Nan

Makings of a fun day!

Last weekend when we went down to Chicago, we brought

four of my paintings along.  We took a chance that maybe 

Beth Harlow, of "The Painted Lady",

would see them as a fit for her shop.  Well, she DID

and now it's so exciting to know that my paintings are 

hanging on the walls of "The Painted Lady" in Chicago!

Here are the paintings that went along with us . . .

Icelandic Blue Poppy

Three Pears

Still Life After Cezanne

Coral and Cream
SOLD!
at
The Painted Lady-Chicago