Lilacs

10x8" on board

When I was growing up, the two acre lot around our house was surrounded by lilac bushes, and sometime in May they would all come into bloom at the same time. It smelled like Heaven (and if Heaven isn't teeming with lilacs, I'm outta there--that is if I get there in the first place ;). They're probably my favorite flower, and unfortunately so short-lived in the scheme of a year.

Anyway, the last couple years around this time (they bloom about a month earlier in UT!), my nostalgia has set in and I've had an urge to paint the sweet little things. Which is trouble because they are really quite difficult to paint, if you're asking me. But still, I give it a try because I'm (almost) always up for an impossibly difficult challenge.

This was about 2 hours of painting, and it would have been nice to have a little more time (although, honestly, I'm not sure it would have helped much). I'm feeling a little rusty with my painting lately--I've been funneling most of my creative energy into drawing, which is fine and good, but doesn't seem to really translate into painterly cross-training. Also, for some reason, I always place floral arrangements too high on the canvas (the foreground isn't all that interesting, Stacy!). And I'm pretty sure the values in most of that vase should have been lower. Glass can be so deceptive.

I feel like at this point in my life, I make so many stupid mistakes in my painting and drawing. I'm sure that someday I'll have a little more foresight and finesse. But for now, I'll just keep clumsily clomping along.