Collection
A Garden in Bloom
Compare the branching dogwood, the potted petunias and a mixed bouquet.
Flowering Dogwood Pink Blossoms on Woody Bark
M. Donna GoodA Garden in Bloom gathers three flower paintings: Potted Petunias, Flowering Dogwood Pink Blossoms on Woody Bark and Sunflower Poppy Bunch. Each holds its flowers in a different way, on a branch, in a pot and in a bouquet.
Flowering Dogwood Pink Blossoms on Woody Bark carries its blossoms along a pair of warm brown branches that cross the sheet from the lower left to the upper right. Each flower turns at its own angle, some facing the viewer and some in profile, and the bough seems to move in a breeze. In the flowering dogwood, the showy blossom is a cluster of small true flowers framed by four bracts that look like petals.
Potted Petunias sets two weathered clay pots side by side, each overflowing with ruffled flowers. The left pot holds warm coral and orange blooms, the right pot cooler pinks, with deep rose at the throat of each flower. The petunia, a relative of tobacco, originated in South America.
Sunflower Poppy Bunch gathers many flowers into one bouquet: two large sunflowers at the center, red and orange poppies below and tall spires of blue and violet at the right. The painting holds nearly every color of the garden at once.
The three paintings share a love of contrast. Donna sets crisp petals against soft grounds, so the flowers come forward and the backgrounds fall away. In the dogwood, a lighter pink laid beside a deeper rose gives each petal its curl. In the petunias, a fine white line runs along many of the ruffled edges. In the sunflowers, warm yellow meets cool blue along each petal, and the flowers glow.
Choose one color and follow it across a painting. In the dogwood, the warmest coral sits near the center and the color cools to pink and lavender toward the edges. In the petunias, the warm brown of the clay sets off the pinks and corals. In the bouquet, rose and coral at the top of the sheet answer the red poppies below.
Then move to another painting and try the same color again. The garden becomes a conversation among shapes and colors as well as a gathering of familiar plants. All three paintings also hang in Flowers & Garden, where the prickly pear and the cabbage join them.
The Paintings
Flowering Dogwood Pink Blossoms on Woody Bark
M. Donna GoodWatercolorTwo warm brown branches cross the sheet from the lower left to the upper right, and pink blossoms open along them, each turned at its own angle. The ground behind them is a soft sky of pale blue, rose and gold, where the colors melt together. Against that softness, Donna gives the petals crisp edges, and a lighter pink laid beside a deeper rose gives each petal its curl. The warmest coral sits near the center of the bough, and the color cools to pink and lavender toward the edges. Look for the small strokes of violet and gold that mark the hearts of the larger blossoms.
Potted Petunias
M. Donna GoodWatercolorTwo weathered clay pots overflow with ruffled petunias, warm coral and orange at the left and cooler pink at the right, with deep rose at the throat of each bloom. A fine white line runs along many of the ruffled petals and sets each flower apart from the darker pot behind it. Trailing stems carry a few blooms over the rim of the right pot, and one flower hangs in profile, showing the long trumpet shape of the petunia. The pots are painted in layers of brown, rust and gold, with darker patches that suggest many seasons outdoors.
Sunflower Poppy Bunch
M. Donna GoodWatercolorTwo large sunflowers anchor the center of the bouquet, their petals in yellow, gold and orange around deep brown centers flecked with dark seeds. Red and orange poppies open below them, and tall spires of blue and violet flowers rise at the right. Where the sunflower petals meet the blue behind them, their crisp warm edges glow against the cool color. In places, the wash breaks into a fine, lacy texture, like light through a garden screen. The broad, simple shapes of the poppies give the eye a place to rest beside the busy detail of the sunflowers.