Thursday, March 12, 2009

Oh, You Pretty Things!

I've wanted to paint a Tulip Poplar blossom for a long, looonnnng time now- as long as I can remember. Unfortunately about three years ago when it occurred to me to go take some reference photos, it was about a month after the flowers had come and gone. They don't last long at all, which makes the blooms even more special.

The following year (2007) I promised myself that I would absolutely NOT miss bloom-time, and thus kept a very watchful eye on a carefully selected Tulip tree (with low-hanging and easily accessible branches) in my dad's yard that entire spring.... waiting for the flowers. Exactly when they bloom depends on the harshness of winter, the warmth / intensity of Spring, rainfall, and of course a host of negative man-made influences which is pretty much a given with anything in nature now... but I digress.


I was able to capture these photos in mid-May, and the blooms- as usual- didn't last more than a few days, a week at most. I photographed them daily in various stages of bloom (okay, call it what it is: TREE SEX). You can easily see the differences in lighting/weather/time of day in these 3 pictures I have posted, and these are my favorites of the set. I'm looking at these 3 pictures as inspiration for a new painting. Or three.






Surprisingly, I actually have never seen this flower painted, although I'm sure somebody has had to feel the same inspiration as me and captured its glory with some form of artistic media.


3 comments:

katiev said...

I bet this will be a really lovely painting. i can't wait to see it!!

Doris Sturm said...

How beautiful! I have never heard nor seen such a blossom. It's so big and bold and I wonder, does it smell lovely?

It sort of reminds me of a Magnolia blossom in it's strenght and vigor, only Magnolias bloom a lot longer.

Thanks for sharing, Samantha, I bet those photos would look great framed!

Samantha G said...

Thank you katie! I can't wait to finish them all. I took a break from it to come in here and play around online.

I put up the Earth hour picture you posted, Doris- I liked that better than the badges offered on the site :)