Dogwood Blossoms

Well, as you can see from my recent posts, spring has arrived in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. I have been taking my classes out side in the gardens that surround my studio here at the Christy house. This painting was another class demonstration. the piece is 9x18 and painted on a 140# "Kilimanjaro" CP block that I got from Cheap Joe's.
The tempretures have been in the upper 50s at night and in the upper 60s during the day. I painted this from a photo that I took of a tree in the garden. The blossoms are actually quite small perhaps 1" across. I shot the photo with the micro setting. The challenge of this painting for me was to capture the delicate nature of these blossoms. It would be very easy to be too heavy handed and lose the peace and quiet that these wonders inspire me to. I approached the blossoms themselves with some caution, feeling what I wanted them to be. I painted them last of all when my courage was up to paint them. My hope was to achieve a balance of cool and warm colors. I think that I came down more on the cool side than I initially thought I might but, I think in the end that it worked.