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It all started with seeing a friends post on Instagram.  It was a picture of her holding a massive bouquet of anemones that she grew herself for her business. I wanted to get a bouquet of them so we made arrangements to meet at her greenhouse and I could pick the flowers I wanted to paint myself.

It was a beautifully sunny yet cool morning, and as I walked into the greenhouse the scent of earth and the warmth of the filtered sun made me wish I could spend the rest of the day there.  However I came to pick a bouquet to paint and armed with my bouquet I headed home.

I arranged the bouquet a couple of ways and started taking photos of which angles looked best. I debated to include the whole bouquet and vase or just a partial view.  The light just wasn't great so I moved them by an opened door in my kitchen where the sun spilled in and voila, there was the money shot. I now felt excited to put these girls to canvas.

I always start a painting with slight trepidation as to whether I will do justice to these beauties.  It took a few sessions to get to where I wanted to be, but I made it.  I named the painting Spring Social as the flowers made me feel that they were the very social partiers of the floral world. They were dressed to be seen and were not going to be the wallflowers at the event. That's interesting because these flowers are grown to be part of the biggest event in most people lives, a wedding.  They end up being right front and centre in the bride's bouquet.

Enjoy the start of the floral parade with these beauties.