Plumerias

I’ve had a little trouble getting motivated to paint lately. Pushing myself to get going, I decided to try something a little different.

What to paint? Hmm…

In the past, I have painted some watercolor flowers. I use photos that I’ve taken to create the watercolor paintings.

Maybe I should paint plumerias.

This painting was started without a plan in mind. I do not recommend starting a painting this way. I had several reference photos sitting around that I used to help me get the correct shape for the flowers.

Starting with a green background, I had the blooms floating in mid air.

I disliked it so much that I walked away from it for a few days. When I finally came back to the painting, I added more flowers, leaves and stems. Then, I changed the background to a teal blue, which I love.

The end result, I feel is pretty wonderful. I just love this piece and I’m glad that I decided to give it a try.

The beginning was a pretty rough start but it turned out nice in the end. I’ll post the video at the bottom of this page.

The first time I laid eyes on them…

The first time I saw plumeria’s in person, was in South Florida. I was taking a walk through my in-law’s neighborhood and every yard had a Plumeria tree. These were just the prettiest flowers I had ever seen.

Inspiration during a pandemic

My favorite place to find inspiration for the flowers that I paint is in local gardens. A cellphone will do. I don’t need the fancy camera, unless I want a close up.

I walk through the parks around town and take pictures. I store them as reference photos and when I’m ready, I look through the collection.

Since we were in a mandated lockdown, I used some pictures I found online as inspiration. Enjoy the video!