A new Hibiscus painting

In 2010 I painted & exhibited a series of acrylic paintings I called Hibiscus ‘n Banana. Every now & then I return to paint another hibiscus. Instead of trying to paint the most perfect flower, I’m like a portrait painter striving to pull out what is unique in each subject. The beauty is in the variations.

Thanks to my cousin, Patrice Esper for letting me use her photo of a an orange hibiscus as reference for the painting. I very rarely paint from someone else’s photos, but the lighting on the hibiscus was so beautiful. I started to paint it in my head as soon as I saw it.

In the interim

There were many months between the start and finish of this painting, and between this post and my last. A variety of projects & distractions took me away, and the truth is, I’m not sure if it’s worth the time to blog anymore. I’ve been posting work-in-progress photos on Instagram, as well as other things that inspire me, and this “micro-blogging” is much more immediate, less time-consuming.

This summer I took the family to St. Lucia for a month, and it was an epic trip – first time my parents, my brother & his wife, my husband & our boys, and even my mother-in-law were in the same country at the same time. So we crammed as much into that trip as we could, and some of the highlights were climbing Gros Piton, Carnival, seeing an octopus while snorkeling, volcanic mud bath, and standing under a waterfall, hanging out with family & friends, having a pop-up art sale at The Inner Gallery. Then I did a 2 day side-trip to Barbados to deliver paintings to Gallery of Caribbean Art for CariFestArt, an exhibition of artists from 11 Caribbean islands, a fringe event of Carifesta.

I also took many wonderful reference photos, and I’m looking forward to painting some of them for a solo show (more on that another day).