Hollyhocks again and not done.

Whew, not done but getting close.  I actually painted this same exact composition of flowers before.  The lovely people who bought the original some 6 years ago invited my son, husband and I over to dinner last Friday.  I had forgotten about the power of the painting until I saw it again on their wall.  I had painted the background two or three different colors before I settled on  a grayish black.  It made the painting so much more powerful.  The funny thing is that I had painted the background color over my signature and forgot to sign it again afterwards.  They have been patiently waiting for me to come sign their painting ever since they noticed my signature was missing.  So, after dinner, I finally did it.  It's a good feeling to cross that off the list.  Anyway, I decided to paint it again.  This time the background will stay ever so pale, just to be different from theirs.  They bought their painting just before I brought all the paintings to Bar Harbor, so nobody really even saw it, which is why I decided to paint it again, plus... the red!