40.5 cm (w) x 50.5 cm (h), oil paints over acrylics on canvas board.
Date produced: 1988 - 1992

Painted entirely from life, at Glenelg, S.A. These flowers were given to my then girl-friend, Marianne (who later became my wonderful wife), from people she was helping with some language teaching.

The flowers had rich colours and beautiful scents. I was very proud of the direct approach I took to painting these flowers arranged in a simple glass container. I was able to produce this painting in a single session of a couple of hours.

The canvas board I used was immediately ready for painting on, after having previously painted it (several weeks earlier) using brown acrylic paint to act as a suitably coloured 'ground', rather than using a 'ground' of white. When painting, oil paint can be successfully and properly applied over dried acrylic paint, but you can't properly apply acrylic paint over dried oil paint (that combination will break down). That type of thing is all part of the 'craft of painting' - knowing what materials to use, and how to apply them properly so that the painting will last a reasonable length of time.