Blazing Sunshine

Sunshine doesn't always come softly, often it blazes, like the sunflowers below. This is the time of year when sunflowers tower over the gardens, offering their bountiful seeds to birds of all feathers. Sadly, this year my seeds hide in there envelope with no glimmer of germination because I was too busy to plant them...but rest assured their day will come. Perhaps it will be next year, perhaps the year after.

The sunflowers shown below, and which I chose to reproduce on canvas and on recycled children's blocks, were left in their seed packets for a couple of years before they finally had their day in the sun. Here are some of the pictures I took and the paintings they inspired last winter as the cold winds blew outside my studio.

24"x30" (60 cm x 76 cm)

18"x20" (46 cm x 51 cm)

12"x24" (30 cm x 60 cm)

Below are laser copy photo transfers on some wooden recycled children's blocks that I sanded. I'm not sure I'm quite finished with them yet. They have a grainy texture that makes them seem old and they may lend themselves beautifully to some words or additonal embellishment. In the meantime, every now and again, I enjoy just mixing them up and putting them back together.

7"x7" (18cm x 18 cm)