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Painting Pansies is such a treat for me!

  I love pansies. Every time I see them, I have to smile.  I can put them out in planters long before the last frost and sometimes they even survive our New Brunswick winter. They are "pretty tough girls" and every flower is just a little different. Like people, they each have their own personalities.  Pansies also remind me of some wonderful people I know.  Besides all that, they are fun to paint!

  I painted this slightly larger than life work in my studio. I set myself a goal to paint it in a day and I did.  I find that when I drag flower paintings out over time, they can look a little overworked. I love the freshness I get when I only allow myself a set time. I often have to work wet in wet as I never use a dryer on acrylic paint. (This is a personal preference only.) I had the canvas primed and I had a blue undercoat on it. Because of the unusual size, 6 x 20, everything I had wanted to paint on this canvas didn't "feel' right. Yesterday, while cleaning the studio for a tour, I moved the canvas, looked at it and basically saw the finished work. Painting isn't always that easy but when I can see the finished work before I even sketch it, I just go with the flow and seldom even bother with a sketch. In this painting I did have to consult some sketches I had done of pansies as well as some photographs I had taken. As in all of my paintings, I wasn't trying to achieve high realism but I was after the essence of the flowers, just enough realism to evoke memories in the mind of the viewer.

  "Pretty Tough Girls" is framed in a gold tone frame with a white liner, which is included in the price. I can email pics of the framed painting upon request.