This was painted shortly after taking a workshop with the artist Jeremy Lipking. One of the skills I admired of his was his ability to use extremely bright colors (high chroma) to create very subtle muted tones. This painting utilized my new knowledge of color theory. When mixed correctly, the intense colors mute each other to create various hues of gray. Floral paintings have a rich place, filled with great symbolism, within art history. At the time, I couldn't quite bring myself to paint a cheerful happy floral design, so I painted dead flowers as a compromise. I felt this had much deeper beauty and feeling. I still find it amazing that such intense colors were used to create this little gem. I love this painting.
