As I told you, I was doing quite a bit of painting in December, I just couldn’t show it to you; however, one of my projects has been delivered, so I can recap my process.

This project goes back to my September “painting a day” challenge (specifically my September 21 entry: opsimath (or me dealing with the aftermath of shopping). As I mentioned, my mom’s favorite flower is the rhodie and she really liked this piece and hinted (read told me in no uncertain terms) that this was her preferred Christmas present.

I didn’t make much progress on it in the month of October, and most of November flew by before I got down to business.

I started with a large scale drawing of my reference photo.

The original September painting was 8″x10″ and I wanted this to be a 12″x16″ (between 1/2 and 1/2 sheet) painting. Once I laid down that drawing, I created a strong, dark background.

Next I added my darkest darks to the background then added a light wash over the flower itself.

Next worked on adding the shadows, detailing the petals, and coloring the stamens to the flowers. (Note: For whatever reason, the color of the photo in this step is very off.)

At this point I took it to my critique group. They suggested adding darks to the flower and changing the shape of the upper left green leaf. I also added my signature.

I matted it, wrapped it, and took it to its new owner. Who says, “I love it.”

So… it’s a happy ending to a hurried story. Whew!