In June I enjoyed painting in the early mornings on my back porch. Having recently completed my 60th painting in the collection Views of The Villages I decided to depart from the architectural genre.  Inspired by the blossoms in my garden and flowers blooming in my imagination the photos that follow show you the progress of creating the original oil painting, "Summer Garden."

I begin with a canvas tinted with diluted 

terra rosa. The undercoat is dry. With large

brushes I loosely block in areas of color.

Then I define shapes of foliage & flowers.

I step back often to study the composition.

Yellow and white flowers begin to bloom.

After more hours at the easel I am content with

the painting. Brightening the green in the

background makes the irises pop.

Do you see the monarch butterfly?

It posed for me.

Sultry summer days in August find me using my creativity  at the computer in the cool comfort of air conditioning. In August I am busy cleaning my iphoto files, beginning this first art blog about Paintings in Progress and updating my facebook and google+ pages. I enjoy this down time to organize and clean my workspace and then I will be refreshed and anxious to return to the inner space of creating art!