Huffingtons Love Florals!

We all have a little crush on florals around here – mostly because the ones we receive from our artists are always so exceptional. As a matter of fact, we just got our hands on one the other day that made us think about the seductive allure of the floral. Stay tuned to read about sexy florals (we know: not two words you normally use together, but we think you’ll like this, so be patient and keep reading...)

We’ve all seen florals that don’t get our pulses racing: they lie flat and lifeless on the canvas and the subjects, which were probably gorgeous and full of vitality in their vase or garden bed, have lost the bloom that made them so special in real life. In our humble opinions, there are a few key elements that bring a good floral to juicy and lush life:

Life and energy: obviously, the flowers need to seem alive and pulsating with life. Van Gogh’s Vase with Twelve Sunflowers pretty much does it for me, with its vibrancy and saturated colors. These happy Provencal sunflowers must have been picked just shortly before this was painted. (At least the sunflowers are happy, even if the artist wasn’t…) The composition is eye-catching and encourages the viewer to joyfully wander all over the canvas.

So ahead of his time: this painting is bold, powerful and permits your eye to wander happily all over the canvas

Monsieur Van Gogh: maybe not as sunny as his sunflowers…

More life and energy: Monet’s soft and seductive Iris (1914-1917) fills the canvas with the cool tones of the irises, but bright pinpoints of light give this painting its pulse and raison d’etre. You can almost feel a gentle French breeze stirring the graceful stems and elegant heads of these flowers.

Monet was a master at portraying the vitality of flowers

A Little Drama: This dark and brooding floral, painted in the seventeenth century, is heavy - the flowers seem overly full, overly bloomed and close to a sad ending. Still, despite the oppressive nature of this painting, I do find it fascinating and Mr. Vosmaer gets points for giving his flowers an over-ripe lushness. The Met must have thought so, too, because this painting is part of their permanent collection.

Jacob Vosmaer (Dutch, born about 1584, died 1641) ca. 1613
oil on wood

Closer to home, here at Huff Harrington, we’re blessed with a number of artists who regularly paint dreamy florals that make our hearts pound. We don’t ever like to seem self-serving, but when we started looking at the wonderful and varied collection of florals we’ve seen over the years, we don’t feel at all guilty about bragging.

Exquisite Composition: Nancy Franke, of course, works from life and paints the most beautiful and serene florals. She thinks long and hard about the composition and we love the way she floats her florals so they lie delicately on the canvas. She’s gone from soft and soothing tones to more dramatic pieces, like this one:

The ultimate in elegance: Night Roses by Nancy Franke. This one is so powerful in person.

And here’s a little sampling of other Franke paintings that lasted minutes on our walls:

New Year’s Bouquet by Nancy Franke. Tightly composed and precisely rendered.

So rich and elegant and a little looser. Rose Poem by Nancy Franke

Nancy’s always spontaneous and makes that work for her on the canvas. Roses.

Take One by Nancy Franke. Was this a study? We love the quick brushstrokes and expertly placed stroke of light.

A Little Excitement: The spontaneous and energetic Amy Dixon puts her own spin on florals. She’s a colorist, so the gloves are off when it comes to the palette. Her florals explode in a riot of color, a delightfully impulsive composition – and, Amy’s little twist: a decidedly modern approach to technique. She loads the canvas up with pigment and allows to drip and trickle where nature and gravity takes it. Who could possibly resist these?

Passion Lilies by Amy Dixon

Our hearts also race for Jeffrey Terreson’s bold and strong florals. He punches the canvas with plenty of color and texture, so his florals are anything but delicate and dainty.

Poppies by Jeffrey Terreson. Wow.

Some Rough Edges, Please: Angela Nesbit, who has legions of fans here at the gallery and is known to teach an excellent painting workshop, infuses her florals with an elegant simplicity, which she beefs up with bold strokes and plenty of palette knife. Her paintings don’t last long walls and it’s easy to see why:

White Tulips study: Nesbit’s studies are textbook perfect: loose, edgy and a little on the rough side – a perfect foil for the elegant tulips.

Give Us The Drama, Part Deux: when we last saw the lovely and refined Andree Thobaty in France, we were struck by these two florals that we had to have. Andree’s first love is abstract art, so we loved the looseness and expressiveness of these two florals. They didn’t last long and yes, they sold as a pair.

Les Fleurs en Blanc et Noir

Thobaty’s Pivoines

…And a Little Mystery, Too: We’re also crazy about these encaustic florals by west coast artist, Lisa Meyer Kairos. They’re so airy and translucent, as if they could simply float away on the next current of air. But make no mistake: their creation is a long and many-layered process but Meyer Kairos makes it all look so easy and effortless.

Last Summer’s Hemlock is delicate, airy and completely modern. By Lisa Meyer Kairos

Fleurs by Lisa Meyer Kairos

Roses by Lisa Meyer Kairos

Poppies by Lisa Meyer Kairos

These are part of the artist’s encaustic series. In person, they’re magically layered and full of little intricacies that are hard to see in a photograph. They are hauntingly beautiful.

We’d Like Ours Abstracted, Please: our quietly humble, but exceptionally gifted, floralist Gabriella Ibarra also packs a punch with her fun, whimsical and slightly zany florals. We love the mishmash of subjects, the strong and fearless use of color and the bold shape of the petals. These are not your typical wallflowers.

Late Roses in White Urn

Dahlias & Lemons

Ta da…The Grande Finale: So, we know you’re dying to know about the sexy floral. It was brought to us by Lorraine Christie, an artist who is completely able to infuse her work with almost tangible elements of emotion, feeling and passion.. Her capacity for bringing her subjects to pulsating, quivering life is awe-inspiring and we’ve seen her work her magic on flowers, fruits, crystal vases, silver plates and, of course, humans. She brought us this shimmery painting and we all gasped:

Such Fleeting Perfection by Lorraine Christie

Somehow, through tricks of creating luminosity, depth, contrast and tremendous range in value, Christie pulls off the ultimate floral: it’s sexy!

So, we question ourselves: what’s so seductive about this? And we all quickly answer: full-blown petals that look like they’re waking up last night’s party; a moody palette that is sharp and clear in some spots, but a little muddy and beautifully dark in others; the elegantly painted reflection of water in vase (or vase on table or whatever it is that Lorraine is reflecting…pure magic); the overall lushness and sense of abundance that permeates her work. Drool, drool.

More sexy florals from Lorraine:

New Roses

Golden Roses, II

We summarize our thoughts about the flower in art: in all its heavenly incarnations, it can be dramatic, edgy, elegant, whimsical and sexy. We love it on the canvas, in the vase, in the garden…and especially on our walls.

Tata!

M.