For Peonies Faith, I continued with the refined value technique which I'd developed while painting Morpho rhetenor congeal. The result is a Rembrandtesque aesthetic with strong tones, noticeable brush strokes and striking value contrasts. I finished the painting off with colored glazes utilizing a new color Quinacridone Rose from Michael Harding, which imparted a wonderful pink hue over the grisaille underpainting.

Peonies Faith was indeed an act of faith in that it took me over a month of patient application of precisely placed, small brush strokes of varying values in order to achieve the result I was seeking. I feel it is my most mature work to date, and embodies my goal of creating beauty in art, while it also displays aspects of the sublime.