Painting flowers, preparing for quilt

I painted the flowers with my fingers and the stems with a brush. I printed the table.
This is kind of like the "Happy" quilt I made a while ago.

I've been painting flowers, kind of free-form. I love the mess that paint makes, and the way colors and shapes emerge without planning. I tell myself this is to get ready to make flowers in my upcoming quilt series. ... but I'm not sure ... I love the fluidity of paint, and may have trouble transferring that to fabric and stitch.  We'll see.

Mandala of flower pieces

12" x 12"
Sea grape, , native azalea, orchid pieces

The center is a  small sea grape leaf; it's surrounded by paint dots, then dancing pieces of native azalea -- in bloom they are dazzling -- sadly, their color has faded into brown swirls.  Last comes petals of old orchids. Then more gold and bronze shiny paint. 

Series: focusing the heart

I'm close to starting a series. It took ages to settle on a theme and a few characteristics to unite all the pieces. Thanks to Elizabeth Barton's Visual Guide to Working in a Series, the preliminary thinking has been fun -- it's learning to choose what I love.  I recommend this to you if you want to get deeper into whatever you are making -- it could be cantatas (Bach did it!) or ice cream (Jeni in Columbus, Ohio, is a master).

Series will feature Florida nature
Palm tree, Melbourne, FL (photo)

Here's my art series plan:

I'm going make mandala-inspired pieces -- 

all square 

several small ones and at least one large -- size to be decided soon. Maybe ( 20" x 20" or 25" x 25")  and then 36" x 36" or bigger.  

Pairs may have similar design but different value structure. (Not sure if I'm up to this one -- I may try this after making several simpler pieces.) 

I will look to Beatriz Milhazes for inspiration. I love her layering and her concentrated palette and spirit and the way she conveys it through flowers, geometry and abstraction. My palette will be different, and I'm trying to grasp the spirit of Florida. 

 sketchbook
Beatriz Milhazes
preparing a series

They will have flowers -- one big one each? 

wild red flower by our mailbox

Also:  poinciana blossoms and that pink flower from Coconut Grove -- flowers I love already.  Possibly stripes. Black and white, for starters:

Orchid in sketchbook (acrylic)

What I like so far about this plan:

Lets me work with intuition (choices of shape and color)

Flowers

Curves and swirls

Layering

May include quilting, embroidery, words, paint, print

May include nature-inspired imagery -- butterflies, swirls, leaves, dragonflies, circles, and maybe hearts, if that's not too sappy. Pointy grasses and palm trees

and cypress roots. Birds. Fish. 

Although I'm referencing mandala, the quilts don't have to be circular or symmetrical. And  -- maybe because mandalas are spirit-based -- they may free me, and also those who see them. 

Cape Coral

Rig's house in Cape Coral. I added the colors.