loving ranunculus

I've always loved ranunculus. Maybe it's because they look a bit like roses with those petal-packed flowers. I've never grown them before this year when I succumbed to a package of bulbs without doing any research first. When I got home and was preparing to plan them, the things I read online were a bit discouraging. They're better suited to growing in other climates. I planted them anyway. And was rewarded with a beautiful (if a bit surprising) show.




These ranunculus look more like poppies or anemones (not so on the package).




And I was completely smitten.




With the colors. And the shapes and how different they all were.




Delicate, but bright.




Sometimes ruffled. Sometimes not.

Matthias, often less enthusiastic about flowers than I am, declared them his favorite. Neither of us could stop looking at these lovelies.




Although I cut some to bring inside, I didn't paint them, busy as I was with other things. And then I saw that the flower buds were dwindling and the blooms were dropping petals. I brought a few up to my studio. They were looking a little worse for wear. The painting did not start very well and I was ready to give up, but something that I've learned is that I need to keep going when a painting starts out like that. I need to push up against and past that resistance. I was soon feeling a lot better about where the painting was going.




It was a race against time and before the painting was finished the flowers looked like this:




I'm a bit smitten with how the painting turned out.




Which is a good reminder to keep going. If things seem not to be going well, just keep going. Never give up. Or, as Winston Churchill said, "Never, never, never give up." I may have to hang those words in my studio.

Comments

  1. I love ranunculus too and buy them when they appear in the supermarket in springtime (too hard to grow here). Yours are such yummy colors - I'd want to paint them too. I love your painting of the pink trio.

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  2. This is beautiful!!
    Thank you for sharing your experience with growing Ranunculus here in the colder regions. I've always shied away but you've inspired me to give them a try next year. (PS there is a Ranunculus farm near my sister's house in CA and we used to visit every Feb when the field were in bloom. Amazing!)

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  3. They are one of my faves, too. Such a pretty painting, Anne.

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  4. They are one of my faves and I love your gorgeous photos and painting. :)

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  5. Beautiful post and gorgeous art work. Beautifully and delicately painted! Big hugs to you, Anne!

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  6. I bet you're super glad you didn't take the instructions for those flowers to heart because the result of planting them is a wonderfully beautiful one. Such gorgeous vibrant colours. Your painting turned out so pretty. That 'never give up, just keep going' is once again proving fruitful advice :-) If I look back to us a few years back to now...I think we've both grown better at pushing through the doubts and just going for it....don't you think?
    I'm also enjoying the beautiful array of flowers that are blooming in our garden at the moment. I must get out and take more photos (I have hundreds but there's more new flowers since I last had a photo session) and get them on my blog to share. Just got to fit it around the children on their holidays. No problem with getting out to take photos but less time and energy to get on my blog by the end of a busy day.
    Hugs
    Kat Xx

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