Cosmos & Black-Eyed Susans

 “Cosmos & Black-Eyed Susans” is one of my largest oil & enamel paintings so far as I am confined to nothing wider than 48” when I am picking up canvases as the local art store. (The length constraint is 72”, but that is only if I wish to drive my SUV with the steering wheel pressed up against my chest.) The image used as an idea for this painting came when my wife and I were visiting some friends’ home for a fund-raising party. One of the couple is a very accomplished landscape architect and his gardens were spectacular, BUT, I was mesmerized by some clusters of wildflowers that were growing in a part of the landscape that people generally didn’t see. I again used the freedom of dripping paint with sticks, directly from the cans, and weaving my own cluster of twigs/vines and flower stems. Palette knives and a few brushes were then used to add floral petals.