Hi Friends,

I am sharing a new painting that touched me deeply from start to finish: “Roxie’s Roses,” a 16x12 inch oil painting created as a special commission for a dear friend and now collector.  My client’s cherished red-haired fur baby, Roxie, was the inspiration for this piece. My beautiful friend also adores roses, and because Roxie herself was the color of a perfect warm red, she requested that I paint three vibrant red roses in her honor.

Red is one of the most powerful colors to work with. It symbolizes love, devotion, courage, warmth, longing, and passion. It also represents blood, our life force — the thing that connects us to God and our faith - the very pulse that keeps us moving, feeling, and existing. Red carries both intensity and tenderness, making it one of the most expressive colors in the artist’s palette. I love the ongoing process of learning how to paint with the color red.

For this painting, I used my glazing technique to build up the petals with multiple thin layers of color. Glazing allows light to pass through each layer, creating a richness and glow that slowly comes alive as the painting develops. Red especially benefits from glazing; it becomes deeper, clearer, and far more luminous than a single opaque layer could ever give. My goal was to make these roses feel almost glowing— as if the light were rising from within them. I added water drops to selected leaves and petals, as if these flowers were just sprayed with moisture, adding a bit more life to the image.

As the piece came together, I found myself thinking about the emotional meaning of red. It’s the color we associate with the heart, with love, and with the memories that continue beating inside us long after a loved one, whether a pet or a person, is gone from this world we live in. Roxie may no longer be physically here, but the love she created continues to bloom — and these roses are painted to honor that enduring, glowing presence.

“Roxie’s Roses” is a reminder that color carries emotion, memory, and life itself. I’m honored to have created this tribute.

Thank you for reading and for following along on my artistic journey.

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— Warmly,

     Kristen