Painting still life - daisies and lilies

How spoilt did I feel to come home to this enormous vase of flowers? After 26 years of marriage it’s a nice reminder of where we came from.

I had to paint them quick – to catch that moment before I did what I always do, and kill them off through lack of watering and the tender loving care they deserve. Anyone who knows me also knows that it is my husband who keeps the greenery in our home alive and kicking.  So I try really hard to draw special things like this while I can – before I turn lush flowers into crispy brown sticky things!

I was going to do a little watercolour sketch, but I was obviously channeling my grandmother and something drove me to grab a canvas and a pile of bright acrylic paints and start dabbing away.

Visually accurate it isn’t, but I know my soul is in there, and the feeling I had as I looked at those flowers, thought of the man I married many eons ago, and my eyes stroked the petals and translated the colours.

Whenever I look at this painting I know it will take me back to those hours I spent blissfully painting away, ignoring the mess around me and the dinner I was meant to cook.

Painting still life - daisies and lilies
Painting still life - daisies and lilies