Hush

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“Hush” is “Cherish’s” sister. The rosebushes that inspired these two more recent paintings grow next to each other in our backyard.  The images that became these two paintings were taken in the same spring, when I was looking out the kitchen window just as the sun was lighting them up.  It seems I just can’t get enough of heartbreakingly beautiful roses. 

When the rose painting I called “Peace” wasn’t right for the person who I painted it for, I thought of this image.  She loved it, which relieved us both – making me really happy to dive into painting it during our pandemic summer. 

The challenge in this painting was portraying its tenderness.  This wasn’t happening right away as I painted a bunch of distinct abstract shapes with their hard edges.  Mid-way it was looking like the dreaded “paint by numbers.”  But I kept finding places to soften edges and add shading; it worked out ok. 

More than the roses, the artists in my regular groups expressed appreciation for the leaf cluster in the upper left.  Funny how it was one of the easiest parts of this painting.  Leaves more often than not are vexing to paint.  Many of us in my weekly groups find them super challenging – including me.  it was lovely that these leaves weren’t – another way in which this painting is about gentleness. 

My beloved Sister Mary Neill said about another of my paintings a bunch of years ago that “it didn’t insist.”  I feel this way about this painting.  It asks for a bit of quiet to really take it in. 

I have this thing about associating songs with my paintings and their titles.  k.d. lang’s “Hush, Sweet Lover” kept playing in my as I was considering its name.  Her song gives “Hush” a bit of sultry romance that seems to fit this painting too.   

A gentle request for quiet – “Hush.”  Who knows what might come then…

Summer 2020 – 22”x22” – Watercolor on paper.