Pink and White Peonies

Pink and White Peonies

18x18 Oil on Canvas

by

Cheri Wollenberg

Last spring one of my students brought some pink peonies for my class to paint in a still life arrangement.  I had some white ones that we mixed with them to make a fuller bouquet.  I can almost smell the fragrance they made as I write this post.  Their aroma is extremely pleasing to me.  As I painted this composition, I changed the peonies to a more peach colored pink in this painting.  They were actually an intense or hot pink color, but this particular "vignette" of peonies, I wanted to do warm tones.  I enjoy the challenge of the anatomy of the particular flower, peony.  Since this image was taken, I've painted the bud in the foreground a little sharper.  I felt it didn't need to be quite so lost and it needed to come more forward.  I have set my white peonies in still lifes every year for about 9 years now.  Each year I find that they are a challenge.  I don't know why they are a little difficult, but I thoroughly enjoy the process of painting them and hope that I learn more each time.  To see the price of this painting you can click Peonies. 

White Peonies in Pink Vase

White Peonies in Pink Vase

10x10 Oil on Canvas

by

Cheri Wollenberg

I have white peonies that bloom every spring in my yard.  Each year I hardly can wait to paint them.  Their anatomy is so delicate and beautiful.  There are yellows and oranges that radiate out in the middle and through the slender petals from the center of the bloom itself.  Then on the outside of the bloom away from the bulbular center fall these very pale pink and white petals that catch light blue reflections from the sky and artificial light.  Peonies are a little challenging to paint, and sometimes I feel more successful in painting them than other times, but they are always a joy to try to emulate.  The pink vase is one of my still life favorites and I save it for very special flowers.  It is like a favorite child (laugh).  This year it seemed to cry out to me, to place these few peonies in it.  They compliment one another very well.  This painting is pretty high-key and has a pastel overtone.  To buy it you can click Peonies.

White Peonies 2010

White Peonies

by

Cheri Wollenberg

My husband and I grew up in Oklahoma.  We live in a different state now.  We live in a university town where we are blessed with many diversified cultures and wonderful people.  We love living here; however, we have found that the differences in how we pronounce words are not only with people who are from foreign countries.  I have to laugh as I write this because I have had to learn how to pronounce the flower (above), the peony as "pea-a-knee" rather than the "country" or "Oklahoman" way.  I had always called them "pea-o-knee" ....with an exaggerated accent on the "o" (laugh).  But, one thing I know....they are a beautiful flower and these were my yearly bouquet to emulate into a painting.  Their excellence of beauty is hard to capture, but I am satisfied that I painted it with energy and love.

Pink Peonies

Pink Peonies

12x12 Wrap Around Canvas

by

Cheri Wollenberg