Switching Wedding Gears

I am working a wedding all day tomorrow as a day of consultant for a friend of a friend who is also going to be ordering a painting of her bouquet.  Pictures of the wedding to come, but in the meantime, I wanted to get a quick painting update in for those faithful viewers, wink wink.

Mystery Florist

This painting is looking like a mystery trying to be unveiled.  We know we've got calla lilies, but what else?!

Last fall I introduced you to Grapevine Floral.  Well, Trish has done it again and completed another gorgeous bouquet that was found painting-worthy...yes, this is our mystery florist!  You may remember the beautiful bouquet she created for Karen and Brandon last year....

Karen and Brandon's painting

Grapevine Floral is located in the northern suburb of Lake in the Hills, Illinois, where Trish and her team continually produce some of the most beautiful bouquets I've laid my eyes on.  I love her sense of color and texture.  Even an all white bouquet looks exciting!  Check out some of her other creations....

Gorgeous, right!?  I'm hoping to eventually have a whole gallery of Grapevine Floral paintings!  Now, wouldn't that be amazing....

Turning the Heat Up

The heat is on here in the Reenie Rose studio.  Ok, rather the ac is blasting to combat the outside temperature, but there is a momentum going on inside that I am not loosing track of. 
This next painting is for a client that has won the award title of "biggest Reenie Rose fan" because she consistently says the nicest things to me about my work.  Painting after painting she continues to be a cheerleader unlike anyone else in my little Reenie Rose circle.  I hope I can continue to enrich her life with a painting for her daughter and son-in-law.  No pressure, right?

Onto the next one....

Don't you just love these dahlias!?  I have a couple of yellow and orange ones growing in my flower boxes this season but the color of these purple ones is just stunning.

The sketch!  In my next painting update, I will unveil the mystery florist behind this dynamic bouquet.  Time to get started!

Hee Hee Hooo

72 hours of labor, and a painting is born.

It's funny when I finish something of this magnitude (it was a 30 x 30 inch painting....biggest one yet for Reenie Rose).  While I am working on a painting, I definitely step back and observe my work, but it's not until I complete it that I am surprised at what has been produced.  This painting was so incredibly striking to me and I just couldn't get over that I actually painted it.  I found myself just sitting and staring at this piece or walking past it to take another look.  How did my hand do this?

Now I've never had a child, but I imagine it is a somewhat similar feeling.  You know the process for the most part and have an idea of what the outcome will be, but the first time you look at your baby, it's pure magic.  I guess I kind of see myself as a surrogate mom bearing a child for another couple.  My paintings are my babies that I can stare at and ogle until it is time to pass them off without any strings attached....hoping to maybe run into them again one day.  Is this a weird comparison?  Do you think other artists ever look at their art and are boggled by their creation? 

I wonder, is there something you have done that upon stepping back from it, you were completely amazed at your own abilities?  It's crazy how we can surprise ourselves without even planning on it.