#2665 "Happy Day Sunflowers"

#2665 "Happy Day Sunflowers"
40x36 by 1.75 inches Gallery Wrap

This painting is based solely on #2435 "Overcast Sunflowers" and perhaps the loud music that I was listening to at the time. I felt I could do a large painting and still keep it as dynamic and alive as the smaller sunflowers. I used one of my finest and most expensive, stretched canvases for the experiment. 

Layout Sketch - Charging Forward with the brush...

Life is not always about the showy and bright flowers. The subtle, darker web of the twisted stems and leaves also support the vortex of life as we all turn toward the light… like the sunflower in real life. I was concentrating on connecting the dark to the light with big brushes and strokes of energy. 

As luck would have it, Robert Genn's "The Painter's Keys" would publish "Johanna van Gogh" on the date that I started this canvas. Johanna was instrumental in spreading the art of her talented brother-in-law Vincent around the world. "The sunflower is mine, in a way" said Vincent Van Gogh. I know that he would share though. I almost share my birthday with Vincent except that his was 100 years earlier than mine. 

I was starting to dab and loosing direction after several days of concentrated effort on this canvas. I decided to paint the edges and let it mellow for a while as I went to other subjects. One can overwork even a large canvas. I did return to the canvas after a few days but one would be hard pressed to see any of those brush strokes. 

The sunflower and this painting are intended to bring some happiness into the world during these challenging times ... and challenges always bring opportunities if we look. For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.