Dahlias

 

Dahlias, Watercolor,11x15 on Hot Press.

Triple Wren Farms in Ferndale invited our artist's group (Plein Air Washington Artists) to paint at their farm during a flower festival this past weekend.  It was hard to pick a place to paint amid the rows and rows of gorgeous dahlias and other flowers.  This one is from a study I did at the farm before it started raining.  I got another one done in the morning that I'll post tomorrow.  I took a few photos for reference for future paintings.  

The festival offered a self serve type of sale.  Like a berry picking farm,  you could clip your own flowers for a dollar per stem and some of these flowers were 7 inches across.  So for ten dollars, I came away with a huge bouquet that I split into two still life arrangements.  

Painting in and around flowers makes me smile, it might have something to do with the beautiful, saturated colors.