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Sunday, November 9, 2008

Pansies-Happy Faces




Pansies - Finding Inspiration


Here


There




Everywhere



The Pansy is named for the French word pensee, which means thought. As a child I always called them "Happy Faces" and recently read that some feel the French probably named the Pansy that because the flower petals often resemble a human face when the flowers nod forward as if thinking.
Pansies are easy to grow and in Southern California, where our fall and winters are mild and the sun shines almost every day, they bloom all winter. They come in a wide range of colors, ranging from gold, white, violet and blue. Pansies make me smile and the ones with bi-colored petals are my favorite to paint since they remind me of happy faces.


All of those "happy faces" were the inspiration for my painting of pansies.

Painting almost complete - needs a little touching up!



Completed painting displayed on a garden bench at Debra's Cottage


Pansies are a member of the genus Viola, and they are closely related to violets. Did you know that you can eat organically grown or culinary pansies? The blossoms are beautiful sprinkled on a garden salad and you can also cook with them? Only eat flowers that are organically grown without chemical pesticides. It is best to plant pansies yourself if you plan to eat them or order from an edible flower source.


My organically grown pansies are ready to harvest and today I am experimenting using Pansy blooms to decorate sugar cookies. I will let you know how they turn out in my next post.

Have a lovely creative week.

12 comments:

Ruth Welter said...

Hi Erin, I love pansies and you are so lucky to be able to have them bloom all year by you. My garden here in NY is gone to sleep for the winter and now I focus on my inside plants...especially my orchids.

Your pansy painting is simply stunning...I love it. I took lots of pansy photos years ago and plan to paint them on a tin one of these days if I ever get around to it. LOL

I so love seeing your inspirations...very beautiful work that I"m sure will find a new home very soon. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Ruth

Ruth Welter said...

Hi Again Erin, I wanted to thank you for your question about my painting and let you know that I posted as answer to you there as well.

Happy painting...your work is so gorgoues.

Ruth

FrenchGardenHouse said...

I love Pansies, and yours are especially lovely, Erin!
xo lidy

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I love your blog - so pretty and fun to visit. Your art is beautiful. Lynn H.

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

What a beautiful painting! Everything you've done on your blog is exceptional! We just planted pansies next to our back door.
I would like to link your blog to mine! Hope that's OK!

Shelley said...

Found you from Penny's blog. Yours is quite a treat too! Loved the pansies!

Come visit me at my log cabin if you get the chance! :-)
www.logcabininmichigan.blogspot.com

Donna said...

I love pansies too, with their happy little faces. Your painting turned out wonderful!

Donna

Naturegirl said...

How wonderful to have these happy faces all year round! Your artwork is
gorgeous!! You are a master with your
impressions!
I have posted a ~French Master's garden~ ...I enjoyed my visit with you!

Sandra Evertson said...

Your paintings are Wonderful! Love the vibrant colors!
Sandra Evertson

rhv said...

افضل خدمات المكافحة ورش المبيدات بخميس مشيط وابها بافضل المعدات والاجهزة العالمية
شركة تنظيف موكيت بخميس مشيط
شركة مكافحة حشرات بابها
شركة مكافحة حشرات بخميس مشيط
شركة رش مبيدات بابها
شركة رش مبيدات بخميس مشيط
شركة مكافحة حشرات ببريدة

rhv said...

افضل خدمات المكافحة ورش المبيدات بخميس مشيط وابها بافضل المعدات والاجهزة العالمية
شركة تنظيف موكيت بخميس مشيط
شركة مكافحة حشرات بابها
شركة مكافحة حشرات بخميس مشيط
شركة رش مبيدات بابها
شركة رش مبيدات بخميس مشيط
شركة مكافحة حشرات ببريدة

karamela said...

شركة تنظيف بخميس مشيط
شركة تنظيف خزانات بخميس مشيط
شركة تنظيف خزانات بمحايل عسير
شركة تنظيف خزانات ببيشة
شركة تنظيف خزانات بوادي بن هشبل
شركة تسليك مجاري بأحد رفيدة