White Daffodils on Pink and Gold

 6 x 6 original oil painting of the early daffodils from the flower bed.  My daughter has planted a lot of the lovely miniature multiflora white daffodils and now they are blooming and begging to be painted.  So jaunty.  To paint a mass of daffodils, I like to squint and paint the entire shape as one thing rather than paint each individual flower and petal.  Simplify.  On my ETSY store

Daffodils and Crocus, Spring Bouquets

The first daffodils of the season.  I usually leave them outside because I hate to pick them and denude the flower bed.   These lovelies lasted for a couple of days and at least two paintings.  On my ETSY store.

Spring Daffodils on Turquoise SOLD

These little daffodils have multiple flowers on a single stem and bright orange centers to add a cheery note.  They are among the earliest of the daffodils growing in my garden and a perfect size to fit in these small glass vases.  This painting will be at the Vashon Island Art Studio Tour during the first two weekends in May.  Look for this and other paintings at stop # 23, Dockton Pottery,  in Dockton, WA.  And here's a map to help you find the stop http://vashonislandartstudiotour.com/Spring2017/asssets/map/S2017map.pdf. 

Three Little Daffodils on Black SOLD

The daffodils are blooming late this year and holding on during the cool spring, waiting for the bees to emerge. I wanted these flowers to look like they were glowing from within.  I put a strong light on one side and threw a shadow over the background to increase the contrast.  This one will be in the Vashon Art Studio Tour the first two weekends of May. I will be showing at stop # 23 in Dockton.  Map of Art Studio Tour

Mini Daffodils, Glass Vase, Blue Jar on Blue SOLD

Something about this says spring.  This is a mix of all-yellow mini daffodils (which are about the size of a quarter in diameter) and a small white yellow cupped jonquil.  Both kinds of daffodils have multiple flowers on a single stem so the bouquet is light and airy and full.  On my ETSY store

Mini Daffodils and Two Vases SOLD

Both miniature daffodils and regular daffodils fill these two square glass jars.  We planted hundreds of bulbs last fall and surprises are popping up all over the yard.  I like the combination of yellow and gray and even put some yellow into the gray background  to make it all warm and harmonious.  I also like how the big piece of gray in the background follows through the foreground shadows and unifies the whole piece.  There are lots of light speckles but enough solid gray to keep it from being totally jumpy. 

Opening Daffodils

Spring has been early and this is the last of the field daffodils from the supermarket, though we still have many other varieties in our yard.  I can't resist these, they are so inexpensive and such a glorious riot of yellow.  I painted this with a cool dark gray background, but when it was done I added yellow ochre to the still wet gray to warm it up and make it all more harmonious. 

White Jonquils, Square Glass Jar on Gold

More spring flowers.   These jonquils have small clusters of flowers on single stems.  Picked from my garden.  I like the brushwork in the vase. On my ETSY store.

Yellow Daffodil, Square Glass Jar, on Blue

These were tiny yellow daffodils, multiple flowers on a single stem.  I'm really enjoying seeing all the varieties bloom; we planted so many last fall that we lost track of what was what, and now we've got surprises in white and yellow and orange.  I like the spring colors. 

Six White Jonquil on Blue

The bulbs that were planted last fall have started to bloom and I have to paint them while the opportunity is here.  This jonquil has a small flower with multiple flowers on a single stem.  I like the blue against the white. 

Daffodil Bouquet on White

A spring bouquet against a white background.  I love the bunches of daffodils in the grocery store.  I bought four bunches (40 flowers) to paint, but when I put them in the vase I found I had to take some out to have some "holes" to make an interesting shape.  Otherwise the bouquet looked like a solid yellow lollipop with a fat green stem. 
On my ETSY store

Yellow Daffodils on Gold

A bouquet of spring daffodils to mark the season.  Rather than paint each individual flower I tried to paint the whole bouquet with light values, middle values, and dark values grouped together, to give a better sense of the volume of the bouquet.  It is hard to make a dark yellow - if you add black to yellow, it turns green, the secret is to add a bit of purple which is the complement of yellow.
On my ETSY store

Daffodil Bouquet on Dark Green

Another painting of the super sale daffodils, this time with a dark background. My aim was to paint the daffodils recognizably yet without too much detail, so that the flowers were just masses of lights and medium tones.

White and Yellow Daffodils on Brown

It was late and I needed to get out of the studio so I gave myself just an hour to paint this one.  No fussing, no adjusting, just leave it alone.  And I think it turned out better than the ones I labor over.  I like the waterline in the glass jar.

White and yellow Jonquils on Gray

A painting of the white and yellow jonquils that my daughter planted in the flower bed.  This was painted on a smooth gessoboard panel. I used a rubber tool to wipe out the bright waterline in the glass jar.  Just like fingerpainting.

Daffodil Bouquet in a Canning Jar SOLD

The grocery store had a special on daffodils so I bought bunches and am painting daffodils like mad.  I like how this becomes just one large mass of light and dark yellows.  I tried to keep it high key to match the lightness of the flowers.

Two daffodils Purple tabletop

The gold background is essentially a dark yellow, so this painting is a study in complementary colors - purple and yellow.  I enjoy that the lightest parts of the painting are the highlights in the glass jar. 

Daffodil on Gold

The daffodils are blooming like crazy even though we've had rainy cool weather.  I like how sculptural these flowers are and how lovely and translucent the light struck areas.  This was painted with lots of juicy medium - I wiped out a lot of the lights so the whites are thinly painted.  I try to put each color down once, but I always wind up going back into areas, wiping out  and repainting.