Poppy Painting

As part of the decorating step for our living room I decided to refurbish a painting my husband had picked out for our last house.  It was a 48" x 48" red rose, close up.  I liked the concept of the painting, but the artist used just out-of-the-bottle red and black to create depth.  So, although one might think black would do the trick, the painting always bugged me and seemed flat and lacking.  As not to upset the hubby TOO much I dove into a roll of primed canvas I still had hanging around from college and did a little "coverage".  I stretched the canvas, primed side down, OVER the existing painting, just in case...

I had never painted on this raw canvas side before so I wasn't sure how it would react.  While I was a scenic painter at NSMT I painted nearly every surface you can imagine, and stretched muslin was one of them.  This ended up being a lot like that, so soon after I anxiously began putting acrylic to canvas I forgot my nerves and went to town.  Most of the piece is in acrylic, but the black detailing is in charcoal.  I painted it in a watercolor style over the course of three days for the sheer need for dry time.  Once it is dry I've got to seal this puppy and it'll be ready to hang!  Personally, I think it's way better than the red rose.  Let's just hope the hubby agrees.  (Plus, since it's of my favorite flower, the poppy, it pays homage to A) my favorite flower...duh, B) Veterans - a la the VFW and the great little memory poppies my grandmother used to help give away, and C) a running theme from my wedding three years ago.)