This painting is a memoir of a spectacular day.
On the last day of the Pilgrimage to Paris I led in 2015, four of us took a day trip to Monet’s gardens. After a rainy and cloudy week, Friday treated us to spectacular weather: blue sky and puffy, paint-me clouds.
I’d only ever been to Giverny in spring. What would still be in bloom in October? We happily found plenty of color – with dozens of varieties of dahlias at their peak, as well as the beginnings of fall in the big, established trees surrounding the world’s most famous lily pond.
So what to paint first? Roses, of course! I’m pretty hopeless in my devotion to them. These late-season blooms arranged themselves in a lovely composition and the splashes of color and rich greens behind made a nice contrast to the delicate petals. The blue and turquoise of sky and arbor sealed the deal.
The French word for flower is fleur. This took me to fleurish, which is cute, but a bit forced. Fleurish sounds very close to flourish, which has other meanings – an expressive gesture – as well as to grow vigorously. Yep, that’s it.
Here’s Flourish.
June-August 2017 – 30″x22″ – Watercolor on paper
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