A happier African Violet

I am not all that good with plants. Occasionally I bring home a beautiful, healthy plant thinking that this time I will care for it continually. This African Violet has been sitting in my north facing front window for some time without blooms. When I was doing some tidying up, I decided to move it and an orchid to my south facing kitchen window. Since they are now sitting above my sink, they are receiving regular watering and I have been rewarded with beautiful magenta blooms on the violet and the orchid plant is starting to put out a flower stock.

Today I decided to paint my African Violet. The support I used was a Judson carton which is a card impregnated with resin. The support had a coat of clear acrylic gesso on it which meant I was working with a toned surface. This is painted in oils and includes my first time use of Michael Harding Magenta oil paint. I had some difficulty getting the bright magenta I was looking for. Even though the magenta highlights are not exactly the correct color, the important thing is I achieved the appropriate value balance between the lights and darks of the flowers.

African Violet