Strange, where we might find the inspiration to do a painting in a particular way or technique. Sometimes, we artists can’t even explain this. Having completed four other red amaryllis paintings, I was not anxious to do another one. However, I kept seeing images in my head of this beautiful red flower on a gold metallic background. I’ve done oils prior to this where I’ve used a gold metallic for a base coat, so this was not new to me. But to use it as a solid gold field behind a sharply defined shape was not yet in my repertoire. And then, just after the New Year when we start receiving all kinds of after-Christmas catalogs in the mail, a catalog arrived in the mail that succeeded in confronting my creative muse. The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers a beautiful holiday card with a red amaryllis by British artist William Say (1768-1834), and wouldn’t you know it, his botanical depiction is reproduced on a solid gold background? See the card (now on sale, incidentally) by clicking here.

You may ask why I proceeded to do a painting so close to what I know has already been done. Please catch my blog post tomorrow and I’ll proceed to explain.