"Peonies"

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"Peonies"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel.

I've been away from painting these small gems for a while now as you may have noticed.  I have been swamped with work that needed all of my attention, I finally was able to finish half of the commissions I needed to.  I miss doing these daily's for many reasons but I know I have to get more of my personal work going rather than concentrating all of my efforts in these studies.  It is passed the season of peonies but I was able to get some off the farmers market, they were not as fresh and lively looking as I wanted them to be but they still possessed beauty.  The process of creating this painting is similar to the other alla prima's.  Each peony I handled as a sphere only concentrating how the light wraps around the form, not worrying about details yet just how light skims across the form.  At the beginning stage when modeling the lights I do not put in the highest keys in values and the darkest values.  Once this stage is complete i'm able to complete the painting by just adding the smaller forms or details to each "sphere". 

I also wanted to give you guys some news in my personal life, I just got engaged about a month ago and have been on cloud nine since.  I met my beautiful fiancee in Florence, Italy when I was studying at the Angel Academy of Art.  She was studying for a semester through the University of Minnesota.  By chance we met and I fell in love at first sight.  I moved to Minneapolis to be with her and haven't looked back since.  You can read a snippet about it on her blog.  To say I am the luckiest guy in this world is a major understatement, I am beyond blessed to have found my beautiful fiancee.

Thanks for stopping by I hope you enjoyed this one!