Most of my paintings are of flowers, birds and various subjects around my home, garden and the countryside where I live. To get a glimpse of the process, I thought I would blog about the inspiration for the artwork I paint for various products.
I'll start with this month's calendar page. July, 2022! 
I collect clay pots. I have them stacked on a shelf in the sunroom, planted with topiaries on the porches and annual flowers throughout our landscape. I'm partial to the worn, mossy ones. You'll see them tucked in here or there on many of my paintings.
We're blessed that our climate allows us to keep the pots outdoors all year, or it would be a pain to set them out, or in, each season. We have perfect plant-loving weather here in the northwest corner of Oregon. Nursery stock, sod and seeds are grown in our area and sold world-wide; it is Oregon's #1 cash crop. Your Japanese Maples and various flower seeds may come from large nursery farms only a few miles from our home. It is quite a sight to see the large fields of flowers before their seeds are collected.
This is Monrovia Nursery, just 5 miles from us. They grow Japanese Maples and various Conifers to ship to nurseries worldwide. It's a pleasant afternoon to visit there.
The geraniums are lush in July. I plant bright red ones in my concrete pots that line our back patio. This month's calendar is painted from the plants first planted in April, when they were babies in smaller clay pots.
The white daisies in the calendar page are African Daisies, which I planted from seed. They are a hardy perennial and grow to five feet. They need constant deadheading to keep under control, but bloom prolifically from May until our first frost the end of October.
I've planted the daisies in the front flower garden and the vegetable gardens. I think they add a nice, cheery touch, don't you?
I painted the July calendar page from flower bouquets picked from my gardens. I usually will pluck a flower out of the bouquet to paint it at a certain angle to fit the scene that I want.
What is more "summer" than the month of July? What is more "July" than red, white and blue? What is more red and white than geraniums and daisies?
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| Flag with my artwork, "God Bless America." |
Alas, July is almost over. I hope you enjoy the rest of the month with joyful summer days. We're off to the beach (which is also a little hint of the art for next month!) Drop back in soon to see how I was inspired to paint August.
