Clematis durandii

Clematis durandii. Oil on Gessoboard. 7 x 5.

My garden is in the Relay for Life garden tour here in Bellingham in a couple of weeks. As a result, I'm more focused than usual on flowers. My studio is lined with these little flower portraits right now.

This is a shrubby Clematis. What that really means is it's a short vine that needs to be next to an actual shrub in order to do more than sprawl horizontally on the ground. This one is next to the Rugosa rose I painted last week so they grow as a pair. This clematis has remarkable navy blue flowers. Few flowers are this deep blue color. With the tan to gold stamens and the large flowers, it's something right now. Some plant pairings are magical, some functional and this is the latter. The prickles of the Rugosa are exactly right for a reluctant vine to scramble up.

It's in a little juice glass, one my sister Ellen gave me. The glass arrived with red roosters on it. This one is my husband's favorite glass for red wine so as a result, the roosters are long bleached invisible by the dishwasher.

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