“Chrysanthemum Garden” 36″ x 48″ oil and metal leaf on canvas – $4,800
Usually, I’m inspired by the living plants and trees in our yard or gardens in the neighborhood, but that has not been the case with spider mums. I have always been intrigued with the curling tendrils of the blossoms in paintings by Japanese Rimpa artists, but had no living plants as subjects for my own paintings.
Last year I had to create a composition of the flower from cut blossoms purchased at a grocery store. The only available color was a bright green that did not thrill me, stuck in bottles. I not only changed the colors, but painted the plants as if growing in a garden. “Chrysanthemum Garden” is the result and the painting is currently at the Portland Art Museum’s Rental/Sales Gallery.
This year I will have many more plants in colors to inspire me because my gardener daughter put in so much effort to provide subjects for me. She purchased several varieties of the plant, moved them into sun spots in our yard, re-planted them in larger pots as they grew and photographed each blossom as it bloomed. I now have enough varieties and colors of the plants for several future paintings. Here is the subject for the first of these.
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