There are people we all know that shine just a little brighter in their ordinary everyday interactions with us. Shanti is one of these people. When I asked her to design a bouquet for the gallery in celebration of its 1st year anniversary, I had no intention of doing a painting of it. But as I sat there watching the sun come around and seeing the flowers light front from the gallery lighting and in the back from the sun, well there was no question. It had to be done – simply to celebrate life and loving kindness!

I started with a few photography sketches to understand the composition I wanted. Then I hesitated. It was a busy weekend in the gallery. Could I possibly paint and attend to gallery guests? My head said “no” and my heart said “yes”… so I painted. The heart almost always gets its way and the head must scramble to keep up attend to the tasks that will prevent disaster – such as monitoring the blouses about to connect with wet paint on the canvas or the person who was about to step back and trip on the leg of the French Box easel. Not an easy job in a small space but we did it!

The painting took two days. The first day to bring the painting to rest and ensure it was alive and breathing on its own. I am working on a painting progress video for my email newsletter subscribers because this painting could have gone in several directions at one point and it is fun to see the path it chose. Then a second day was used to “put the pearls on” and see that the canvas held together as a whole. Done, done, done!

Now on to the next canvas…..