In The Garden: Vase of Marigolds

The other day while I was in the fields sketching my previous painting Marigolds in the Morning the farmer came driving by and kindly invited G and I to help ourselves to some marigolds if we wanted. Delighted, we returned home with armsful of gorgeous blooms and I put them in a vase on the table in the garden. And, of course, whenever there are flowers around me I just have to paint them! I had only intended to paint a still life with the marigolds but as I sketched them I found myself widening out the scene to include the garden as a whole. It was truly hypnotic, like being immersed in a sea of flowers, and what a joy it was to paint!