Working on a Custom Painting

My paintings are posted on the online shop at Etsy. I am very thankful to my friend, Pragya, who introduced me to this very beautiful and creative platform. Her absolutely beautiful illustrations of birds have always lighted my face and my days.

I am also a member of EAOC (Etsy Artists of Color). A week back, one of the friends for this group, Lisa, mailed me if I would like to make a custom painting for her home. I was so delighted and excited. I loved the idea. She had purchased a set of pillow covers in green and gold stripes and matching fabric coasters from Etsy, and she wanted a painting which can work with it. So, I set out on my work.

I got a book on flowers from the public library and searched for the flower that would just be perfect for her. I want to paint something which has a story, a character and something unique and precious.

I have selected three flowers for her. The one she selects will transform into a custom painting just for her.

1. Bupleurum rotundifolium - Hare's ear

This flower works marvelously for brightening  up borders and corners. The large striking contrast between the greenish yellow bracts and the star shaped tiny flowers is simply beautiful.  This plant contains saikosaponins which have been found to increase the production of chemicals, cytokines, which kindle the combative activity of immune calls.  These have anti-inflammatory properties and can inhibit the growth of liver cancer cells.

2. Cornus kousa - Kousa dogwood

This is an exotic looking flower with its bold, white tear-shaped petals. It is called Dogwood because an astringent is made from steeping the bark, which is used to wash dogs suffering from mange.

3. Hemerocallis 'Green Flutter' - Daylily

The green flutter's attraction is the blooms shade. The anthers are dark and the prominent feature of this flower. These flowers are nocturnal. They open in the late afternoon and last throughout the night.

I feel understanding and interpreting all the three flowers in my painting will be an awesome creative time well spent.

I look forward to Lisa's reply.

(The pictures are not clicked by me. They are sourced through  Google Images.)

POMEGRANATE - Punica Granatum

Sensuous love and passion,

fertility and immortality.

The Crowned & Seeded Apple - POMEGRANATE

A native of Persia and the Himalayas of India, the Pomegranate. In Syria, this fruit shares the same name with the Sun, Hadad Rimmon. The oldest evidence of the pomegranate is found on a Mesopotamian ritual vase from the fourth millennium BC. In Egypt, Pomegranate blossoms were woven into the necklaces of many high-rankers before they were buried.

The pomegranate, Punica granatum, has been a sign of love, seduction, hope, rebirth, immortality and fertility.

Pomegranates are drought-tolerant and were cultivated in early Egypt and Palestine and then in China in the second millennium BC. It was an essential at weddings because of it was considered as a symbol of fertility, but, as it was also considered seductive it was forbidden at rituals.

In Christian symbolism, pomegranate was stripped of its sensuous associations and became a symbol of compassion and represented the virtues of Virgin Mary.

Symbol of love, hope and fertility was a symbol of power as well. They were incorporated as royal symbols by Moorish Sultan of Granada and Henry IV of England.
 

I can see the extensive use of pomegranate in medications, drugs and cosmetics. Pomegranate aril juice provides about 16% of an adult's daily vitamin C requirement per 100 ml serving, and is a good source of vitamin B_5. It is said to be an antioxidant but the studies are still going on and no proofs have been found yet.  

This is what Wiki has to say about it - The polyphenols in pomegranate juice are the hydrolyzable tannins called ellagitannins formed when ellagic acid binds with a carbohydrate. Punicalagins are unique pomegranate tannins with free-radical scavenging properties in laboratory experiments^[24] and with potential human effects.^[25] Punicalagins are absorbed into the human body and may have dietary value as antioxidants ) but conclusive proof of efficacy in humans has not yet been shown.

P.S. Click on the link to watch how to cut open a Pomegranate and remove the seeds easily.