Roses, roses, roses

My late mother’s favourite flower was the rose and so we had many rose bushes in our garden. The rose is also one of my favourite flowers but only the single colour roses. With this in mind I have painted 3 roses at different stages of flowering.  I have enjoyed painting these flowers as in so doing, it brought back many good memories of my mum and I find painting so relaxing that I now feel so chilled and ‘de-cluttered’. These are painted in oil on canvas measuring 12x12 inches.

Apparently the name ‘rose’ is from the French language and is derived from the Latin ‘Rosa’. There are at least 100 species and there are records of their existence from 500BC. That’s a long time! Roses are everywhere – they are featured in fairy stories, on emblems (the Lancashire Rose), in food such as rose hip syrup, in herbal and folk remedies, used in Chinese medicine and in perfumes. I also have a small rose tattooed on my shoulder. How many of us, as children, have made our own ‘eau de toilette’ by placing rose petals in water for a day or two?

Of course, roses have been painted over the centuries by old masters such as Monet, Cezanne and one of my favourite artists, Renoir.

 My trilogy of roses is dedicated to my mother, who introduced me to the rose with all its beauty which I hope I have been able to portray.

Cheers mum!