Spring Flowers

Tulip Festival, acrylic, 14" x 11"

Blog 19

Spring is finally here and for me, spring is all about beautiful flowers. After months of monotone colours, I yearn for the first blooms of the early spring flowers. I have to admit that my knowledge of flowers is pretty limited, I just know the names of the most popular ones, like roses, tulips, daffodils, gerberas, irises, sunflowers, peonies, poppies, and waterlilies. Not surprisingly, many of them also appear in famous paintings. Just think about van Gogh's sunflowers and irises, or Monet's water lilies, poppies painted by van Gogh, Monet, or Georgie O'Keeffe. I never considered myself a painter of flowers, but the beauty of flowers fascinate me. I have a friend with a beautiful garden that I pass every day on my way to work. Seeing the flowers always lifts my spirits. I always wonder which ones will bloom next.

Often, flowers are attributed with certain symbolic meanings which often vary depending on the culture. In Western societies, red roses are considered a symbol of love and passion. In Canada, poppies are worn on Remembrance Day to commemorate soldiers who have died in times of war. They are often a symbol of sleep and consolation in time of death. Daisies are a symbol of innocence. Flowers in art are also used to symbolize femininity.

Even though I painted the occasional flower in my early painting days, the yearly paint-outs at the tulip festival with my painting buddies as well as the studies of flowers in my garden and winter garden have inspired me to paint more flowers. I am not interested in their symbolic meaning, I just paint them to capture the beauty of these perfect and delicate blooms.

As colour is very important to me, I love the wonderful varieties of the tulips at the tulip festival in all their bright colours and the way they are grouped. Since I moved to Ottawa, spring only really begins with the flowers at the Tulip Festival.

Here are some examples of my spring flowers:

I am looking forward to visiting the festival this year again, even though I fear I won't have time to paint on site. Hopefully, I will be able to paint at least one of my own tulips at home. I hope you take the time to smell the fragrant spring flowers either during the Tulip Festival or in your neighbourhood. Maybe, you have a chance to take your mom to the Tulip Festival on this Mother’s Day weekend. I wish all of you who are moms a Happy Mother’s Day!

Thank you for reading my weekly blog. I encourage you to sign up for an automatic delivery of my blog into your inbox by providing your email address. Your email address is only used to send you the weekly blog posts and you can unsubscribe at any time.