orchid

2011
korean egg tempera on bristol board
19" x 24"

i'm ashamed to say that this painting took four years to complete. i really have no excuse for having taken so long to finish this thing, and the only explanation i can give is that those flower veins took a fucking long time to draw and paint. i started it in the summer of 2007 when i was still living with my sister in tarrytown, NY. at the time, she, my brother-in-law, nephew and i went to the botanical gardens in the bronx, and i used her professional-grade camera to shoot pictures of all the flora there. i had intentions of painting a "botanical garden series", consisting of like, at least five different pieces. this orchid painting, however, is the only one that came into fruition, since it's the most time-consuming painting i've ever done. but, now that it's finished, who know? maybe i'll tackle another painting in the series and be done with that one in 2014 or something.