Texas Blue Bonnets

"Texas Blue Bonnets"
5" x 5"
Oil on hardboard
This afternoon, despite the cold weather, and being in want of a diversion, I made my first trip of the year to the Botanic Gardens. I took 246 photos and some of them were of … yup, Texas Blue Bonnets.  I never expected to see them with my own eyes, nor to smell them or touch them, but there they were on this, the 17th of May.  Who knew they could grow in Illinois?  Or would even … want to. They smelled faintly like my childhood memory of cattle silage. Oh, the memories those blue flowers dredged up when I inhaled.  I'll look for them every year now that I know they'll come to my zip code.   

I usually take about three hundred photos during a two hour excursion, so today was a light day. But there wasn't that much TO photograph for a girl who likes to paint whorled flowers. Although, the ranunculus were fabulous. They just have way too many petals.  There are, however, about 100,000 springtime flowers in bloom right now — worth the membership.

Carol

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Posies

"Posies"
8" x 6" 
Acrylic on canvas panel






















There weren't many places to set up to paint, but I found one with some spiky blue things and a patch of salmon and hot pink posies. It was hot in the sun and the season's first mosquitoes fluttered in wait for glistening flesh when I stood in the shade. 

Two days in a row with bugs in my text. It's summer in Illinois for sure.

Carol

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Blue Lace Cap Hydrangea

"Blue Lace Cap Hydrangea"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas
Blue lace caps in huge pots were placed in the middle of a reflecting pool at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I was able to get close enough to reference many of them for the purpose of subject matter.  

I'm haven't painted hydrangeas in a while, so when a block of time presented itself today, I decided to do it. I enjoyed painting each petal completely before moving on to the next one, starting with the darkest ones.  The leaves were a delight, too.

Thank you for looking.
Carol

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