Bleeding Hearts

Here is the "full square" of the newsletter painting. It is 24 x 24 and was an interesting challenge. At one point I was crouched down in the middle of the garden trying to get the right angle on the hanging bleeding hearts. I wanted to do them in the early stages when not all the hearts are fully out. Another challenge was to do a painting that is red and green and not have it garish. In reality, the brighter green looks great but in a painting it becomes a bit too much of a hit in the eye- so I toned down the greens somewhat.  I wanted the complementary colours to be complimentary too! I also had to tone down the splashes of brighter light coming through the plant. The problem with painting garden plants is,  unless one is wealthy enough to have a full-time gardener, the garden still has to be cared for - not just "painted". There is weeding, staking, trimming and lots of other tasks. Still, with painting from one's own plants, there is no doubt but that it is an original in every way. So far, the title is just "Bleeding Hearts"  but I might think about something else. Usually, I tend to be pretty straight-forward with titles. I think going Latin and calling it "Dicentra spectabilis"would be a bit pretentious- although I like the "spectabilis" part because I did think it was spectacular.