New paintings, hot off the easel, and some thoughts on art and life ...

"Autumn Mandala" could have been a simple still life. It started out with a small bunch of flowers from my garden, set up on my studio table. It included a dahlia called "Crazy Legs" that I had ordered from Swan Island Dahlias (where I spend too much money cuz I'm a plantaholic). But sometimes I'm just not in the mood to paint a straightforward still life, so I kept painting until I had a mandala in fall colors. I had to let it cool on the shelf for a while, but when I went back to it today it all came together.