Red Tulips, Pink Tulips, and Daffodills

Spring Morning

Oil on Canvas Panel 14" x 11"  sold

Saturday morning was bright and sunny, a perfect morning to  get out the French easel and paint outdoors for the first time this season. It was made even more special because of the event of the day! Our Burley Public Library hosted a one day showing of work by local artists in conjunction with our current campaign to pass a bond election in May to build a new library.

 I was a High School student here when the current library was built in 1959. It was wonderful then, an asset to the community. Now, it desperately needs to be replaced. I am pleased to be able to assist in the effort in any way I can.

These tulips and daffodils are in bloom in front of the Library, so I sat out my easel, Claudette Bray joined me and we had a pleasant time chatting and painting along with talking to Library patrons.

When this painting sells, a portion of the sale will be donated to the new library!

Easter Lily

Easter Lily Gift

Oil on Canvas Panel   6"x6"  

My dear neighbor, Katherine, brought this with an Easter treat! Today is the first time I have been able to enjoy, contemplate, study, and respond to it all with paint. It made for a delightful day of being lost in symbolism, subtle color, and soft textures and shapes. Thank you, Katherine!

Little Yellow Tulips

Oil on Canvas   6"x6"

Thank you for looking, Marilyn Miller

Unexpected flowers this time of year bring such warmth! And Yellow is an added dimension of heart warming sunshine....

Sunflowers

Sunflowers and Gold

Oil on Cradled Canvas Panel 8"x8"   sold

Second try with sunflowers from a neighbors wonderful garden. Looser... More casual..... like.... sunflowers....

 

Iris, Peonies, and Poppies

Iris, Peonies, and Poppies

Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas 42"x 96"

Finished, at last! When a friend purchased my painting of a tulip garden hanging in our kitchen, my Mother remarked that would be OK only if I promised to do another floral to hang there.

I began this canvas soon thereafter and it did hang above our kitchen table for many years while she was living. I chose to make it large so she could see the colors. She had lost most of her vision to Macular Degeneration. I chose to use the flowers she had grown through the years because we both loved them so.

After she died in 2004, I started to rework it some, but had not yet completed the rework. I decided now, while the same flowers were in bloom, would be a good time to re-complete it. Today was the day!!!

Below are two detail photos of it.

Detail #1 of "Iris, Peonies, and Poppies" Detail #2 of "Iris, Peonies, and Poppies"

 

Crabapple Blossoms

Crabapple Branch in Blossom

36"x15 3/4" Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

 

It is finished! Below is the pre-finishing session. Because of the slow, cool spring, the wonderful pinkness lasted many more days than usual. Now the blossoms are faded and gone until 2013.... I miss their beauty, but love watching the squirrels eat the apples in the fall and through the winter. It is a wonderful tree all the year Perhaps I will paint it again in the fall with apples and squirrels...

White Chrysanthemum

Oil on Cradled Panel 8"x8"

This flower has held on for many days waiting for me to be able to do this painting.... It is greatly appreciated! Turns out purchasing it was a good investment! It still looks good.

This morning I decided it was time to try a project I have been wishing to do for months and decades. I took photos of the painting process as I worked on the painting. The resulting video is right below this note....This is a small project. I would really like to do it with a large canvas. I had painted the Chrysanthemum last week, so I knew pretty much how I wished to accomplish the painting.

I would really like to do something similar with a large painting as I am exploring the resolutions of all the questions which arise while working. One day.....

Springtime

Daffodil

Oil on Cradled Panel 8"x8"

Finding refuge from greyness of April snowstorms by snuggling up with the colors of a bravely blooming Daffodil.

 

Crocus, despite cold weather...

Early Spring Sunshine

Oil on Canvas Panel 6"x6"

Despite the cold, grey, windy, snowy or rainy days, when the sun finally broke through a few days ago, out came these brave and cheerful flowers! All of us enjoyed those hours of sun!

 

Loves Red Rose II

Oil on Cradled Panel 8"x8"
Framed in Gold Floater Frame

I have long been considering doing a larger painting of a red rose in three stages with a very dark background color and including a pearl and some gold.

Day in the Studio

Mt. Harrison, Close Southwest View

Oil on Canvas Panel 24"x30"

Timpanogos

by Marilyn R Miller

Oil on Canvas Panel 16"x20"PEP $200

Sunny Geraniums

by Marilyn R Miller

Oil on Canvas Panel 8"x8"

Today was the best studio day in months for me.

I was finally able to finish the little geranium painting. Its purpose was to bring a little color and light into the greyness of January. It should have taken a couple of hours, but with many interruptions, a lethargic painter, and a discouraging start, it took a week and a half.

After the last yellow was in place on it, I had a desire to whack into the beginning of "Timpanogos" with total abandon.That was a great joy. It may not be really finished. It was so exhilarating, I may attack it again... with more color. The wacky brush work was enjoyable and gave me freedom!

With that freedom, I pulled out another start from October, "Mt. Harrison, Close Southwest View", and gave it a new life with color.

Daisies and 'Mums

Daisies and 'Mums

Oil on Canvas Panel 6"x6"

Ah! Daisies, again! These are from the same bouquet as "Exotics". I just couldn't put them in the same painting... 

Pink Geranium

Oil on Canvas Gallery Wrap 5 3/4" x 5 3/4 "sold

Geranium plants are so colorful and reliable! Many of mine are still going after 20 years! I take them into the studio through the winter and while I am very happy to have them go back outdoors in the spring, still their colors and wonderful leaves are great during the cold months.

I even enjoy their distinctive fragrance... So I paint them to commemorate!

Exotics

Oil on Canvas Panel 6"x6"      

Purchasing and painting flowers is a great thing. Cheerful and fun. These were in a bouquet of mixed flowers. I have no idea what they may be. They lasted for a long time and I enjoyed their colors and shapes. 

" Daffodils"

Oil on canvas Panel 8"x10"

Even purchased daffodils make it seem like spring will arrive....

Monday was very close to a spring day in temperature and atmosphere. Snow came in the middle of the night reminding us that it is still winter and cold storms are probable But I had these bits of portable sunshine in a vase to keep me cheerful!

 

On the day I began this painting, I brought my painting materials, the canvas, and a big easel (the painting is 8 feet long....) out into the garden to make the preliminary placement of flowers and colors from the border of Peonies, Iris, and poppies in the garden. Joan, one of our wonderful neighbors at that time, came dashing over to see what I was doing. We had a great chat that day and she enjoyed watching the progress of the painting.

When I completed it, I brought it into the kitchen where my Mother who was partially blind could enjoy the colors. It still hangs here in the kitchen even though Mother is no longer here.

This week, it will take a trip to the studio to be on view when guests come on Thursday.