Right now, I have three paintings that are in progress. You saw the last one, my large overly ambitious succulent garden painting. I am a little stuck with that one right now and had to put it down. I started a smaller succulent painting that is much less daunting. I’ll give you an update on that one soon. And, as if that wasn’t enough on my plate, I am working on a Lady Slipper Orchid painting for my mom!

I’m super excited about this painting for my mom though. I took her to the Chicago Botanic Garden 2019 Orchid show a few weeks ago and was totally inspired to paint this particular orchid for her because these are her most favorite orchids. I don’t know, there’s something about these that she loves so much. I decided to try and paint it in similar colors to the Yellow Rose painting I made for her last year. I imagine she’d have these hanging side by side.

Day 1: I drew the flower and just filled in the canvas with paint. I’m not worried about the color or the shape of the orchid yet. I’ll fix it as I go along.

Day 2: I darkened the background color and painted the leaves. I like where this is going so far!

Day 3: Totally changed my mind about the background color (it was a dark dark blue) and I decided to make it a dark green to coordinate with the Yellow Rose painting I did for my mom last year. I added highlights to my leaves and I started painting in the white petals on the orchid.

Day 4: I tackled the yellow petals and the “slipper” portion of the orchid. It’s looking good!

Now all I need to do is refine the petals, and add the finishing details. Stay turned!

Happy creating!

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