Sunflower seeds

 ”Sunflower Seeds in the bud” © 2008 Jill Rosoff.  5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″  $95.00

My sister Jenny grew a small forest of sunflowers last year.  They were literally as tall the roof of her house (one-story), towering above me when I photographed them in her planter in the back yard.  They were amazing.   The centers of the flowers were a good 10″ across–I thought they could have won a ‘biggest blossom’ contest at the local fair.   When she harvested them it was the centers that really amazed me, how the seeds had matured in the bud.  Jenny gave me one of the buds, and voila, this painting.  Each seed had different striping, it’s own striping, like a fingerprint, the zebra stripes of the plant world.  It makes for a great pattern, don’t you think?

Seeing them soldiered together, not in a bag from the market, just the ends visible was a whole new thing, very evocative of the graphics of Asian theater  and puppet masks.   There’s a wonderful movie from China called “The King of Masks” that these made me think of.  Rent it if you haven’t seen it.  Its a wonderful story, and the mask ‘performances’ are stunning.

 

Cacophony of color

“Spring Garden” ©Jill Rosoff 2008, all rights reserved.  5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″, framed, $195.00

Its such a fun word, cacophony.   Happier than ‘riot’.  The colors are a big reason I can’t resist Iceland Poppies.  And they’re planted in the planters now, its the time of year for these lovely bright, fluttering spots of color in gardens all over the place.  When I drive by one of these little bursts of happiness, all I want to do is paint them.  Tough to do while driving. 

I finished this painting in November (out of season, but I couldn’t hold back when the urge took hold) using source photographs I’ve been taking of Icelands for years.  I can’t get over the shapes of the flowers, the petals, how they cling to the stem.  They are delicate and crinkly, and the colors are bright and rich and clear, especially when they are backlit by the sun.  Happy sigh.

Dreaming of Spring

“Single Orange Tulip” ©Jill Rosoff 2007, 6″ x 4″, $65.00

The days are starting to get longer.  This time of year starts me thinking of spring flowers, especially bulbs.  Tulips. This one is a study of a single tulip flower, of the inside, the stamens and the pistil.  I used a favorite color combination again–see the tulips in the column on the right.  The deep purply grey background makes the orange light up.  

Off to do the Art Under the Umbrellas show in La Quinta on January 17th.  In Old Town La Quinta:  www. lqaf.com