Garden Peonies

The reason these are called "Still Lifes"...is because THEY DO NOT MOVE!!! LOL~! Unless you are using live flowers, then the artist needs to be observant and finish in a timely manner!
I have always enjoyed brush strokes, and how paint lays on the surface of the canvas, with soft and hard edges, that help define that surface. Man made items, like the tea pot or cup and the vase...have crisper edges, then the flowers. With the activity of the flowers, I played them against another man made item: the framed painting, behind the scene...to establish some space breakup, and allowing the looseness of the main subject to be more important. Then with all the verticals almost wanting to dominate the design, I brought in the clothe which has a linear pattern, that I pulled into some nice quiet diagonals! To me, any painting should be a "journey" for the eyes, and a gift to the mind, to enjoy all that LIFE HAS TO GIVE.
Then one last "theme": Primarily this painting is RED WHITE and BLUE! BUT, to keep it quietly stated, was one more challenge for my artistic skills to capture!