A New Year

I've heard you should spend New Year's Day doing what you want to do the rest of the year. I made a promise to myself to paint this year, and I don't mean the living room. So, in keeping with my promise, today I worked on a lily that I'm making for the QuiltMania II exhibit that opens in September. I'm painting the major shapes separately on white cotton, then I'll cut them out and applique them. So far I've painted the basic shapes and some of the shading on the petals, and the fuzzy orange things that stain your clothes if you brush against them (anthers), and the green filaments and stigma. No, I didn't know what they were called--I had to look it up. There is an iron in the second photo for scale reference--in the words of Tiny Elvis, "Those thangs are huge, man!"

I drew the lily from a photo I took last year in Cannero, Italy, at my friend Barbara's house.