Rose Mallow Hibiscus is another Spring Flower painting. It is nice to paint local Ontario flowers in season, even though my main interest is in Tropical foliage & flowers.
Before the Grand Opening, I made a couple trips to the new Rock Garden at the RBG in Burlington, to gather inspiration for the main event, where I painted live.
The first day I went, I paid for the guided tour, and then went around with my camera, trying to zero in on a subject for my painting. One plant I thought was interesting, was the Rose Mallow Hibiscus – mainly because from a distance (before reading the name) I thought the flowers looked like pink marshmallows on skewers!
Also, I’ve painted many hibiscus flowers before, but never would have guessed this was a hibiscus, though I do see the resemblance to Rose of Sharon flowers, and I know they are also in the hibiscus family.
Anyway, I started this painting some time ago, holding it as a back-up in case my painting for the big event didn’t work out. As it turned out, by the time I went to the Rock Garden for Luna, the flowers had dried up and most of them had faded away or fallen already. Thankfully, it did not matter, as I ended up doing a plein air painting for Luna.
I think this painting probably ended up quite whimsical because I was envisioning an magical evening in an enchanted garden. There is no underestimating the power of suggestion, in art – this is where we get to go beyond photography (or at least my level of photography), and just play with our own interpretations.
If you are interested in “Rose Mallow Hibiscus”, e-mail me, otherwise, I will exhibit it in Art in the Park Oakville, Aug 1st.
