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After viewing a post on face book featuring finger painting , I immediately wanted to try this as  it is always exciting to try a new technique.   You know pretty quickly rather this will work for you.  Like knife painting this is not for the faint of heart.  Working with so much paint can get a little messy.  I knew the very second I sliced my knife into a glob of oil paint - the knife was the way I wanted to go.  And laying on a glop (is that a word?) of oil paint to the tip of my fingers and dancing it across the canvas.....  it just felt right for me.  I am certain finger painting

will be a part of my art work.  After painting  "Taking a Chance" and two smaller finger paintings, I realized that I had to find my own way with this technique and I really do not like painting with gloves on....my fingers now look like I have been work in the coal mines.  I will have to give it another try or load up on nail polish.  

Any comments on this would be appreciated.  

Bright red and soft white poppies against a smoky sky,  doesn't sound like a difficult subject to paint.  However working these  cold and  hot colors into an pleasant blend was not an easy task.  At one point I was ready to give up on it.  I walked away and left it for a while and returned to view it with new eyes.  It took a lot of scrapping - re-doing  - and re-thinking to finally find that middle ground that would make these colors come together.  I knew I had a painting here and it felt good to see it finally materialize....a promise of summer that we on the east coast are longing for.

Added note - I delivered this painting on July 3rd......SOLD July 4th.

I considered this a finished painting - signed my name and set it aside to dry.  I was ready to take it off to the gallery,  looked a little more closely and was not too excited with what I was looking at.  Now it is not an easy task to make changes to a very heavy textured knife painting. However, I was going to give it a try.  Back to the drawing board.   Placed it  on the easel for a closer look. Decided to intensify the background with deeper blues...looking better.  Added more grasses around the poppies...um better still but still not quite there.  With nothing to lose,  I laid out different colors on my palette - scooped up a gob of juicy paint on the tip of my knife and flicked colors all over the canvas.  WOW I loved it -even re-named it.  This procedure is not for the faint at heart.  I had more paint on me than on the canvas.  I kid you not, it was in my hair...all over my face ...my neck  - soooo much fun.  Can't wait to do another one. 

I painted this floral and set it aside where it lay dormain for a while.  It just wasn't grabbing me.  Finally I decided to hang it at the top of my stairs - it did add the little color that I was looking for.  Later,  as I was walking up the stairs, the sun was hitting the painting and suddenly it did not just come to life;  it literally sparkled.  It was no longer the wallflower at the dance - it was the belle of the ball.  The million of tiny flowers - little specks of yellows, blues,aqua and white daisies along with citrus green grasses played up the firey poppies against a soft blue sky.  This is the stuff dreams are made of....and artist are always chasing a dream.

Chase your dream until you run out of breath...........then, keep running.  

I love the size of this painting....12" x 48".

Imagine the places it could be hung.  Perfect behind the sofa - as a headboard - over a group of paintings...the list is endless.  I have painted hundreds of poppies and I have to say that this is one of my favorites.  The cool blues of the sky is the perfect compliment for these scarlet ladies which are nestled among a multitude of tiny flowers.  All this is done in a very heavy texture.

Unfortunately due to the dimensions of this painting it does not photo well, therefore the picture does not do it justice.

I would love to hear from you -

Monday morning I happily finished this painting.  I did a lot of scrapping and repositioning on this one before my eyes were satisfied with what they saw.  Monday evening "Jane and her daughter Sarah" dropped by to have a peek at my work.  Jane wanted a new painting for her home.  Although I had never met her,  we talked like we had known each other forever .  Jane decided on "Tomorrow...you dream".  She got the painting she wanted and I had felt like I had made a new friend.

 It was a great Monday.  2014 is looking good for me.  However, I really have to get busy on my painting.

Have a  great day!!!