#7 in a series of ten oil paintings called “The Northwestern Flowers in Bottles Series.”
The calla lilies I used when photographing my reference material for this project were quite small. Before I began this painting, I actually shot a whole new roll of film based on a much larger lilly, but because that stem was so thick and tall, I wasn't able to get the angle I wanted. So I went back and used the original shot. I especially liked how you could see inside the flower in this composition.
It was a real challenge to paint a white flower. I could have done it in shades of gray, but I want my paintings to be colorful, so that just seemed rather depressing to me. Despite the fact that there is really just one petal, this flower was not easy. I think I may have put 3 or four layers over the petal by the time I was done.
The bottle is one I had purchased as a set of three to compliment our newly decorated living room in 2001. We have 2 yellow couches, so at the time purple was an accent color that was sparingly used in the room. Now these same bottles sit in the window of our current house. They are quite beautiful when the sun shines through them.
