Sami's Sonata Lilies

Daughter Sami is moving to Richmond, Va. in 4 weeks to live and work at their state health department as an Emerging Infectious Diseases Fellow, a position she got through the CDC after graduating with honors with a degree in Microbiology from University of Texas. She's one smart cookie. I decided to do a couple of paintings for her new apartment and have started on the first of the series of Sonata Lilies from a bouquet she got from her boyfriend celebrating their 1st year anniversary. They were the most wonderful flowers, staying fresh and opening more and more for over a week. I took two series of photos, once at 5 p.m. and another time at around 10 a.m. I liked the light on both of them, but wanted to do the more golden light of late summer afternoon for Sami. I'm sure the other photos will provide plenty of inspiration for more Bonga Botannicals. I like to do a value sketch in a complimentary color and then bring in layers of glazes on top. That means that nothing I do is ala prima and can take 4-5 painting sessions for these smaller works (18x24). I'm looking forward to using the painting knife more tomorrow and bringing in the wonderful yellows of the lilies.