Painterly Peonies

This exotic bouquet of burgundy and white peonies brought to me by a friend had such a unique combination of dark and light flowers that it immediately sparked an idea for a painting. I have been wanting to move toward a new color palette lately and these dramatic and earthy blooms seemed like the perfect way to experiment with heavier more opulent hues in my work.

Created with mixed media on paper, and accented with metallic gold highlights, this painting presents an impressionistic interpretation of the bouquet.

Although it was painted from life, I took many reference photos of the flowers for future artwork. Of course, there is nothing like painting from a living bouquet and these varieties would be a lovely addition to any garden. After researching their identity I found that the burgundy peony is likely a variety called Buckeye Belle and the white peony is called Festiva Maxima. They are sold as tubers and best planted in the fall.