field sketches

I have a tendency to work on paintings that have a connection with an upcoming season. "Magnolia" had been on the proverbial burner for a while but I didn't know what kind of backdrop I wanted for it. This past winter I was looking through some seasonal reference photos and stumbled into a number of late winter, early spring water images and everything clicked! 

These daffodils are located around the farmhouse of my grandparents farmstead. The house and out buildings are long gone and everything has grown over but the daffodils remain. They come up every year and are over 100 years old. Some years blossoms are scarce and abundant other years. This spring was kind of an in between year. I go back to see them a number of times every year.