I love how this painting started. A very good friend of mine is also a photographer, and one day she gave me a photo she took of a beautiful rose. I was very flattered by this gift, and I framed it and put it in my living room. I always wanted to paint it but never had the time because obviously…. life got in the way!

Fast forward years later, I was looking for a project to teach in mybeginners oil class. This class is for people who have literally neverpainted before or used a brush, and I thought the rose would be a great project. I oversimplifiedthe shapes in the petals and leaves, and really walked my students through every step. Theclass was a success! I had mothers, children, and even sometimes the whole family. One of mymain goals as a teacher is to show how accessible painting is, so after the class, I still wanted toshow that with a little extra “elbow grease,” you can take this simplified version to a much morefine arts one! So I painted a very detailed one with my own artistic freedom. Thankfully, everyone really liked it and I even sold the original right after finishing it!