Willamette Valley Wonder

 

This is not a new painting, but a refresh of an existing one. I love how I got lost in capturing the light and shadows of the evening relaxing with a glass of Pinot Noir. Willamette Valley Oregon has some of the best wines, and Pinot Noir is a major wine produced here. I originally painted this in March of 2016 at St Josef Winery with a friend during one of those "Wine and Canvas" classes as I was just beginning to explore my passion with painting. This one was done in acrylics originally, and the re-do is also in acrylics. 

Below is the original version.

I debated about re-doing this painting just to have physical evidence of my first works. For years this painting as it was above sat in my kitchen displayed, and I couldn't stop looking at what I could change on it as I have grown more confident in my painting. So, the next best thing is to take a photo of it and document, which is part of the point of this post. 

This is an acrylic on 16X20 canvas.

Bliss

 

During the dark days of winter, I kept thinking of colorful flowers that would be blooming in the coming months in my tiny backyard. Roses, lilac, camellias, columbines, irises, tulips, delphiniums, violets, lilies, hydrangeas, and so many others would pop up in the spring and summer.

Then in January, we had a sudden opportunity to move and eventually sell the house I called home for 12 years. The new home has twice as much land space, but barren of flowers except for rhododendrons and fuchsias. Leaving my beloved tiny garden was harder than I expected because so many spring and summer days I would just beam at the colors popping everywhere. 

So this painting is called Bliss because that's what flowers bring for me. This is the first spring in several years where I am not tending to an established garden, but planning a new one where I can bring my past experience and mistakes to make it even more glorious than my previous garden. And it will be Blissful.

This is a watercolor and ink on paper measuring 9X12.