When Jordan brought this Cyclamen plant into my studio I was in the middle of a figurative painting. The beauty of this plant clouded my mind for days. It was all I could see or think of. Nearly took the figure off my easel to do a painting of this beauty. Rain and dark grey days kept me working on the figure. I prayed the blooms would wait for me but one morning I found two withered and a bit brownish. Relieved of the pressure to get this plant on canvas I finished my painting of the girl in a hammock.
To my surprise, a second blooming came. A second chance! Only a second wave of rain storms also filled the skies outside my studio. These things happen. This plant deserved the full glory of direct sunlight. I rolled my easel over to the window and began to paint in hope of adding sunlight later. No background in mind and no sunlight to work with I added what I could. Leaving the studio that evening, the sun broke through, lighting up the backs of the old buildings. With my not-so-ready new hip I scampered back up to my studio for my camera, but not fast enough to get the picture I wanted for my painting, but a fair enough one to remind me of the vision I saw for my painting.
Stopped off at the Post Office to mail a card to little Josephine, Jordan's daughter, and there a second idea for the background came to me. A sliver of light broke through, way off in the distance, and I saw it as another possible background for my Cyclamen painting. Which to use was now my problem. I’ve never had much luck doing a second painting of the same subject. Yet I had to try and my hand and mind were with me - I like the second painting as much as the first. Making the setting different made it possible, keeping my desire and interest in both paintings high.
