Summer Poem

Painted in Tower Grove Park today with MOPAPA. It was a warm morning and will be another extremely hot week in STL this week. I was painting near the Piper Palm House ponds (say that three times fast). Hibiscus flowers are blooming and were reflecting in the water near the lilies and, to me, it looked like a dream or poem (or I was already delirious from the heat!). I struggled a bit with this piece and ended up finishing it at home this afternoon thanks to some extremely helpful advice from Shawn Cornell and David Huth about how to separate the reflected flowers from the actual plants growing in the water. Initially, I had them all in the same plane and they were of equal contrast and importance. By softening the reflected flowers they started to fade to the back, adding perspective to the piece. That really made it start to come together (sorry I don’t have an in-progress picture). Thanks to Shawn and Dave for helping me to see what was wrong. I’ve learned so much from the talented painters in this group and I really can’t say enough about how much they’ve affected my development as a painter. This painting is a 9×12 oil on panel.