Vase Of Alstromerias

Our neighbor Lauren is a keen gardener and whenever she prunes her plants she can't bear to throw the flowers away so she always gives them to us. The other day she came around with a great pile of cuttings which she handed to G and, flower arranging not being his strong suit(!) he simply crammed them into a vase of alstromerias which was already sitting on the garden table. Looking at them I was instantly transfixed by the contrast between the red and yellow lilies and the bands of purples, violets and blues ranged in rows behind them. It reminded me of one of Rothko's famous Color Field paintings, with swathes of colour stacked up on top of one another and I knew I just had to paint it. So, later that day as the setting sun threw gold light over the entire landscape I sketched this scene, and of course I couldn't resist putting my beloved mountains in the background! It truly was glorious and what a joy it was to paint!