Sunshine in a Vase

Yellow… is another way to say warmth, happiness, optimism.  And when I saw these gerberas at my local supermarket, I had to buy them and paint them. I wanted you to feel the warmth of this vivid sunshine yellow, the anticipation that spring flowers bring as well as the air breathing and lifting the soft sheer fabric - all these elements surrounding me as I set up the still life on a sunny, breezy, spring day. I wanted you to feel as though you could reach into the image and touch the gerberas. Yellow, pink and green are playful colours which I hoped would create levity; and compositionally, I love using diagonal lines in my paintings. They bring a sense of movement to any image; so, using the folds of the fabric diagonally and placing the flowers off-centre, my intention was to convey life in a still-life painting.