Old Fashioned Poppies

Old Fashioned Poppies
Oil on canvas on panel, 8x10

I truly despise cold weather.  In fact, I simply could not live north of Missouri!  I don't know how my "mountain" friends do it.  I grow weary of the dark and dismal snow cover, so today - I choose something from my summer garden!  Poppies are one kind of flower that my grandmother did not have.  I had tried many times to get a start that would survive the harsh winter, to no avail.  One year, I noticed the wonderful bed of poppies in a friend's yard just down the road, and she offered me a start.  her grandmother had planted them on the spot perhaps 40 years earlier.  My grandmother very likely admired them from the road as she drove by.  Once planted, that variety has thrived in my front bed, and I've even moved some out along the fence.  For ten years now - their vibrant colors absolutely sing from the garden each May!  I'm so glad I finally found the perfect poppy for my garden.  I have squeezed this painting in between an amazing basketball game with Michael the scoring king, and a robotics tournament for Michaela, which Michael is helping with.  Almost time to pick them up - I am no longer snowed in!  Painting number 404 in as many days.