Flowers for Kelly - Bright Yellow Daffodils in a Milk Bottle on Navy Ground Painting

This piece was inspired by Ellsworth Kelly's beautiful simple floral drawings. I was trawling through a wonderful book of his plant drawings when I started sketching and by the time I was done there was something of a conversation happening. I love the stark, simple observations he makes through his extraordinarily expert wielding of line but I also find color utterly irresistible and this lovely little painting is the result of that. The piece features three beautifully blooming daffodil blossoms tucked casually into an empty glass milk bottle. They are joined by a couple of stiff, layered orange flower buds and two stalks of riotously splayed leaves in a mixture of bright forest green and slightly faded moss. The background is painted in deeply toned blue and black with expressive brushstrokes manipulating the paint into a delightfully rich and gloomy velvet texture. The contrast created by the vibrant yellow and orange flowers against the deep blue background is a truly lovely thing and I think I shall continue this series, conversing through time with artists whose work I find particularly enthralling. I have added work in progress images of this painting, so that interested individuals can see how it develops, this is something I particularly enjoy in other artists work and will try to offer more in my own.