June Roses

Red Roses and Robin's Egg Blue, oils on canvas panel, 10" x 8."

The ever-bearing rose bush my sister Silvia gave me a few years back has grown into a glorious sight. The color of its deep red flowers defies my artistic abilities--somewhere between cerise and magenta-cherry--and they bloom in such profusion I've been cutting masses of them for my flower vases, to keep them from being devoured by the roaming deer who particularly savor the buds.

My favorite vase to display them is this glazed robin's egg blue vase I inherited from Mum. My mother-in-law used to love this vase filled with the sky-blue hydrangeas that grew all around her house in DC. I find the contrast with these red roses wonderful. Two or three branches of this floribunda variety are enough to fill the vase.

A couple of days after doing the small painting above I decided to try a quick sketch in pastel--I rarely get to use these brilliant Sennelier pigments in my plein air pastels except in small touches here and there. Wow!

Red Rose Study, pastel on Wallis paper, 6" x 9."
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