Aria

Original Sold

Shop Online for Archival Prints

I wish I could remember the name of this variety of rose! It came from a bush that petered out several years before I painted this. The image dates back to the spring of 2011, when I brought the little vase with rose and sprigs of sage to our across-the-street neighbors’ backyard to take advantage of the gorgeous evening light.

Sometime down the road I spent some time crafting the composition, but there it sat on my hard drive until I was searching for something to work on to follow Lavish in late spring 2019. I set myself up for one of the most involved “fuzzy backgrounds” I’d ever painted. It felt like I’d never be done with shoving green and purple paint around with my brushes!

But, patient and determined, I did – and then gave myself the treat of the glass and water. It’s such satisfying painting – I don’t have to get it just like the photo. As long as the contrast is there and I’ve saved the white paper in the right places, the magic of portraying light goes “ta da!”

The sage sprigs and the rose were next. Back to my sweet-spot. I love to paint petals!
While I was painting this Joe and I went to see two summer operas in San Francisco, which inspired a day of listening to gorgeous Puccini arias on a Thursday. This painting spoke to me of being in the spotlight as well as a sense of space. “Aria” bridged them – the extravagant soprano in the spotlight – and “aria” is “air” in Italian.

This is the painting that was shoved aside when I was overcome with needing to paint “Remembrance” the rose window painting. Not to be outdone, this one decided to come through in grand style!

May-June, 2019 – 30”x22” – Watercolor on paper