RED POPPIES

Red poppies are certainly the flower of the moment!  All the events to mark the 100 year anniversary of World War 1 have brought them to the fore. In particular, the wonderful art installation of red ceramic poppies that is growing daily at the Tower of London.  When finished on Armistice Day - November 11th,  there will be a poppy for each military fatality that was lost in the war - 888,246!  The work is by artist Paul Cummins and is called 'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red'.  He was inspired from a line in the will of a Derbyshire serviceman killed in Flanders.  Each poppy is being sold for £25 with 10% going to several armed forces charities.  It is hoped that £15 million will be raised.

My latest poppy gift bags have cut and ironed red cupcake cases collaged on to them which were then embellished with gold and black marker pens.  I then made a decorative pouch for the gift tag out of the centre of a toilet roll.  I explained how in a previous post. (Gift Tags - March 12th 2014).  Re-cylced red ribbon and white tissue completes the bags.

'Spanish Poppies' - acrylic on canvas (60cms x 30cms)

Some years ago I did this commission - a field of white daisies and red poppies from my customer's photograph of a field near her holiday home in Spain.  Using the complementary colours of red and green certainly creates a picture that won't fade into the background!  I remember using cut pieces of polystyrene dipped in red and black acrylic paint to form the poppies.  I have used poppies in other flower paintings but I now I feel inspired to do another with nothing but red poppies!