Peony in profile

Okay! so I trespassed and I painted and here are the fruits of my activity (illegal?)

Both peony paintings are a combination of collage and watercolor... a technique I learned from Karlyn Holman that I've been having a lot of fun with.

The peonies in real life have such a delicate and lush presence, I was trying to achieve that in my paintings. I think the finished works look a lot more hard-edged than the actual flowers but I like the slight feeling of transparency to the petals and the drama I was able to add with the intensity of color.

The collaged paper I think adds a random quality that really appeals to me - and dirties up the painting a bit too. I don't try to achieve perfection in my paintings . I prefer to be pulled in random directions depending on how the paint is flowing on the sheet. You never know what you're going to get... isn't that exciting?