Ethereal Radiance

I love Dahlia flowers, they have so much variety in shape and colour, each one like a little burst of nature's creativity. One afternoon at a garden centre with my young son, he wanted to take photos of the flowers on my phone and as we were making our way round he spotted this one. We both loved it's perfect pose and took a picture to capture it, that cherished memory became the heart of “Ethereal Radiance”. I wanted to keep things simple and let a few rich tones do the talking to showcase their beauty and divine shape.

I used pastel pencils on charcoal grey Pastelmat, I feel this gives the Dahlia a velvety finish that shifts beautifully in the light, giving the flower a quiet, living energy. It has a radiant glow like a soft light shining from its core. The deep shadows wrapping around every petal really bring out the gentle curves and subtle gradients, creating a calm yet striking effect that pulls you in to notice every little detail.

Take a closer look at the artwork in in detail, some progress shots and the original picture from the garden centre. I hope it brings the same gentle lift to your day that it brought to ours that afternoon.