Today's Magnolia

Today's Magnolia

Driving home from dinner in Raleigh last night, I jokingly told my husband that

I ought to go ahead and pick a magnolia now so I can get an early start painting in the 

morning.  Next thing I knew he pulled over beside a huge magnolia tree and asked me if I needed the flashlight.  I should know by now not to say anything like that unless I mean it.

I did get a large flower that was fully opened up and had fun painting it first thing this morning!

6 x 6 in. oil on museum quality panel

Southern Magnolia

Southern Magnolia

Rainy morning turned sunny early so I did get to go out and pick some magnolias.

This is the one I chose to paint and I achieved exactly what I was aiming for by

doing a very quick study and focusing on the shapes and contrasting light and dark areas.

I did not allow myself to think "magnolia" because I aimed to paint what I saw

and not what I expected the flower to be.

Tomorrow I will do another variation of this.

6 x 6 in. oil on museum quality panel