My inspiration for this painting is the vivid colors of my garden flowers. Every year I plant new ones to the perennial beds. Although I have seven separate beds of flowers, there never seems to be enough room for all my favorites. These particular flowers are a giant zinnia variety and they are great in bouquets. Often I share these bouquets at church and they look lovely on the altar. The colors are fresh and bold — that is why I love painting flowers.

My working method for this watercolor painting was to paint a smaller version, having been inspired by the Daily Painters group of artists. Most of their sizes are 5 x 5 images and some a bit larger. I have found it quite difficult to paint in a small format. This image is 8 x 10, which is petite enough for me. Anything smaller than that feels tight and crowded.

After sketching a few of my zinnias from life, I transferred the drawing to the cold press watercolor paper. It has a little tooth and the pigments are applied to the soft surface. Fabriano Artistico is my favorite paper, as it does not have as much sizing on it as some of the others. The pigments seem to be brighter too. I chose pigments that represented the local colors; quinacridone magenta, pink, rose and lemon yellow. The greens were tricky and I used a cooler pthalo green toned down with cadmium red.  The top of the vase is just suggested. I used the vase color for the background instead, being lime green which is the complement of red.

I feel this is a successful painting because the shapes and colors describe these fresh, bold blossoms. It is a simple, pleasing design and would add a bold spot of color in any decor.