In this painting, I was looking to explore shadows and reflections with the beautiful hydrangeas from my yard. Painting from real life versus from a picture is a real pleasure because your subject looks more spontaneous and lively. But it can also be a struggle because it can quickly go wrong and become a nightmare! (Like the wind ruffling the bouquet you spent 30 min setting up.) (Or accidentally knocking the vase over and spilling water everywhere.) (And let’s not even mention how light changes every 20 minutes, so you gotta paint really really fast. Maybe that’s where the spontaneity comes in?).

At the end of the day, I do quite like this painting and enjoyed the experience. A lot of hydrangeas were immortalized!