My Quiet Place

"My Quiet Place"
5" x 7"
Oil on hardboard 
Near my home is a place where waterlilies toss their leaves about like breadcrumbs on water. It's a quiet place, but certainly not a drab one when the sky is strutting her stuff. 

I've painted this pond several times before, but it always gives me such comfort when I do, that I revisit my photos periodically.

Carol

Brushstrokes@comcast.net
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Lavender

"Lavender"
12" x12"
Oil on wrapped canvas
A bush of … these bloomed over my shoulder at the conservatory in Chicago the other day. I liked the blossom because the ornamentation was specific to one petal with spillage onto the ones next to it. I was amazed to see asymmetrical patterning in nature. 

I'm not certain of the name of this flower, but it was beautiful in its lavender petticoat with the painted panel and numerous reaching tentacles.

Carol

Brushstrokes@comcast.net
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Indian Paintbrush

"Indian Paintbrush"
10" x 8"
Oil on wrapped canvas
In some parts of the country there are flowers blooming already — wild flowers, not in a conservatory, not in a clay pot or wrapped in a clear plastic sleeve from the grocery store. Spring is in full bloom in some parts of the country, not here, but somewhere.  Oh, to be where there are blooming things. . .  

I grew up where a plant of this name was a rusty orange and not particularly … pretty. I find this species of the genus quite fetching. I wonder if it has a fragrance as divine as its color?

Carol

Brushstrokes@comcast.net
Carolkeene.com
Dailypaintworks.com
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Bluebonnet Pansy

"Bluebonnet Pansy"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas 
It's her season. She's in full bloom, receptive and open to the possibilities of Spring.  The bluebonnet pansy was one of the beauties I dropped my hat to at the conservatory the other day. Imagine a field of them… I have. 

 The veins on this beauty reminded me so much of my celestial/synapse paintings. I had to exercise restraint as I dragged color across the petals, and not make them into little works of art in and of themselves.

Carol

Brushstrokes@comcast.net
Carolkeene.com
Dailypaintworks.com
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Over the Dark Water

"Over the Dark Water"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard 
The sun was setting over the cold, dark water of one of the large lakes near me. It went down in a flourish becoming a summer night. But it's not summer. Not even close. In fact, it feels like summer will just slide by with a passing wave this year. 

I seem to be grousing about the temperatures in my zip code again, don't I? I'm just so ready for warmer weather, brighter skies and for color. I miss color.

Carol

Brushstrokes@comcast.net
Carolkeene.com
Dailypaintworks.com
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Camellia

"Camellia"
12" x 12"
                                              Oil on wrapped canvas
I had the good fortune to attend three different flower shows in Chicago yesterday. I lunched at Macy's on State Street, stood on one of those perspective-distorted chalk drawings, saw the Tiffany domed ceiling, photographed a man proposing to a woman, ate fine chocolates and met charming people on the train. 

This camellia painting is from one of over two hundred photos I took in the course of one magical day. 

Carol 


Ribbon Ripples

"Ribbon Ripples"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas
Here is another of revelation of what's going on in my brain. I just paint these. They emerge. Develop. Evolve as my brush drags across the canvas. I have no explanation for them. I just do them. 

 Once again, however, what appears to be blue here would be categorized more as purple in my mind. If you are considering buying it, it's not a BLUE painting.

Carol

Brushstrokes@comcast.net
Carolkeene.com
Dailypaintworks.com
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Magenta Stocks

"Magenta Stocks"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas
I happened on several plantings of stocks in the Lincoln Park Conservatory last spring and delighted in their generic "posy-ness."  They are the epitome of what the word flower means to me. I wish I had a garden full of them in all their various colors.

I hope I get to see stocks in bloom again this year. While they are beautiful in their own way, they appear to be early prototypes for roses.

Carol 

Still Winter

"Still Winter"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard
Across the flat prairie, the land is still barren and dusted with winter's most recent effort. It's now April, but it still feels and looks like February.

I trust there will be signs of spring emerging through the matted leaves pretty soon. Do I sound desperate, or whiny?  I'm so sorry if I come off that way. April has to be better, doesn't it?

Carol

Brushstrokes@comcast.net
Carolkeene.com
Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com