Inspiration... California Poppies

I love wild poppies.  When we lived in California, I would transplant them beside our house and wait patiently for their orange faces to pop up and sway in the breeze.  More often than not, the poppies I planted would not grow.  They seemed to have a mind of their own and wanted to be left in the wild, so eventually I stopped planting them entirely.

My New England garden has some poppies growing in it this year.  Little green leaves of the Bread Poppy have started popping up in the perennial bed where seeds were sprinkled 2 months ago.  French Flounce poppies will bloom next month by my mailbox.  Soon I will have a splash of "poppy color"... but there will be no orange California poppies...  so I made my own.  This piece was inspired after seeing a wonderful illustration of Mexican Poppies on Genine Zlatkis' blog.  She is a wonderful artist and illustrator whom I first noticed on Etsy.  I admire her work very much, which you will appreciate if you scroll through her blog.

Sparrow with Poppies will be one of the pieces I have in a solo show starting next week at St. Raphael's Hospital in New Haven.  Stop by and take a look!