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.

DAFFODIL - Narcissus

Vanity and Death,
Resurrection and Rebirth;
The flower of the underworld.

Botanical Name : NARCISSUS PSEUDONARCISSUS

The yellow daffodil - Narcissus pseudonarcissus - can bring a fresh dose of color and fragrance anywhere. This flower is a native to Asia, Europe and North Africa. Narkissos, name was given by the ancient Greeks, which describes the evoking narcotic scent of the Daffodil.

Daffodil is the national flower of Wales and is symbol of vanity in China. It blooms around the time when  Chinese celebrate their New Year. The Greek mythology tells a  very gratifying tale for the origin of this flower. They say, a handsome youth named Narcissus, was obsessed with his own looks. He could not leave the sight of his own reflexion and fell into the water. The flower sprang from the edge of the water and was named after him. The word 'narcissism' is also associated with the above tale.

Narcissus flower was associated with death and underworld. Exquisite daffodil wreaths have come down from the Graeco-Roman Egypt. At the time of the pharaohs, the daffodil bulb skins were placed on the eyes, nose and mouth of a mummy. It is the promise of an eternal life.

P.S. - Intake of any part of Daffodil is not safe.

Hey friends, checkout my paintings inspired by this flower on this link. Gosh...the name of this flower is really fascinating... NARCISSUS !!

PANSY - the Heartsease

There's pansies , 

that's for thoughts.
in Hamlet (Act IV, Scene V)

Botanical Name: VIOLA TRICOLOR

The name of this most mysterious tricolor flower, Viola Tricolor - Pansy, is derived from the French word pensée meaning thought. The flower resembles the human face and for its animated traits it was seen in  Disney's classical Alice in Wonderland, a chorus of singing pansies. This beautiful flower is also the flower of Osaka, Japan.

In Christian symbolism, an eye surrounded by a collar of radiating light was a sign of the trinity and hence the colored lines on Pansy's petals were seen as a reference. Pansy was long been considered to be a sign of loyalty in European countries. After 1810 the Pansy was a rage in Britain, it was cultivated in many variety of forms and in different colors in English gardens.

Infusions made from the leaves of the Pansy can work as a remedy for epilepsy and  prevention of cramps. The sap having anti-inflammatory properties was also said to cleanse the blood and strengthen the powers of the memory. The flowers are considered beneficial for heart diseases and hence the name, heartsease.

MARIGOLD - the calendar

Walking the preordained path

 - the Sun's Bride

Botanical Name : CALENDULA OFFICINALIS

If it's flowers fail to unfurl by seven o'clock in the morning, then you can expect some rain soon. Its Latin name  - Calendula, small calender is derived from the Roman word calendae, meaning first day of the month. One can tell the time of the day by examining the flower.

In some parts of the world it is called the 'Sun's Bride', because it follows the sun's course. Contradicting its representation, it is also known as the flower of the dead and is planted in graveyards.

The fourteenth-century Dutch hymn : "Marigold, comfort of the world, noble maid, help us towards salvation. Ave Maria", reflects an association of the flower with Virgin Mary, the popular name 'Mary's gold - Marigold'.

Calendula has been a valued plant since twelfth century. It has been used extensively for its medicinal properties. Marigold is a woman's best friend : drinking a brew concocted from the flower helps in regularizing periods. It has been used traditionally as an antiseptic to heal minor injuries.

The petals and leaves of this plant are edible. The bright yellow colored petal has been used as a food dye since the Middle Ages, an affordable alternate to saffron.

ANEMONE CORONARIA - the windflower

The first flower of the year ,

Every gardener's pride.

A symbol of Transitoriness.

Common Name : POPPY ANEMONE

Anemone, is derived from the Greek word anemos, the wind. The short-lived delicate flower blooms with the gentle spring breeze  and vanishes. The fragile and fleeting beauty has been found throughout the Mediterranean since the prehistoric times. This flower being the garderner's pride was one of the seven  most important garden flowers in the seventeenth century ( Carnation, Tulip, Auricula, Hyacinth, Ranunculus, Primula and Anemone).

The wild population of these beautiful Anemone flowers are in a decline in Israel due  to urbanization and now it is a protected plant in Israel.

The mystic presence of the flower is being associated with ephemeral love and the quick drying tears of woman. Although the flower is found is many colors, the red reminds of the sufferings and death of the lovers Aphrodite and Adonis ( Greek mythology ).

Poppy Anemone, the first flower of the year, is of great sacred importance. Although it belongs to the poisonous family of flowers (Anemone contains an acrid compound called anemonin ) it was formerly used for its medicinal value.

AQUILEGIA VULGARIS - an aphrodisiac

(Photograph : http://rosenblads.ax/)

Wisdom and strength, piety and fear;

a symbol of salvation,

the triumph of life over death;

an aphrodisiac.

English Name: COLUMBINE

Bloom Time: May - June


'Aquilegia', the term may be derived from the Latin aquila, the eagle, as the spurs of the flower resemble an eagle's hooked beak and talons. The shape of the nectar gland resemble a dove, hence the English name Columbine (Latin columba, 'dove').

 

The outline of the flower looks like a pentagon. While drawing an artist may just use the proportions of the 'golden section'. The flower inspired spiritual, mathematical and religious interpretations for artists and mystics of the Gothic era. Because of the pentagram concealed within it, the flower gained a reputation as a plant with powers to ward off evil.

Between 1430 -1580, the columbine appeared in many paintings as a sign of redemption and of triumph of life over death. In the Last Judgement, the aquilegia is shown as the steps that lead to heaven, a mediator between earthly and heavenly spheres.

Aquilegia was planted in the gardens of monastries and castles from twentieth century as a medicinal plant. This beautiful plant is highly attractive to hummingbirds which makes them a great garden plant. The plant is a member of all-poisonous Ranunculus family and it should not be experimented with. The plant has been used to cure diarrhea, alleviate rheumatic pains and the dried crushed seeds kill lice very effectively.

Painting by Albercht Durer, 1503-1533

36cm X 29cm

To know more about the plant, its growth habit, preferred conditions - http://www.soonerplantfarm.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/specials.specDetail/recID/21/index.htm

Thanks for reading :)