Diane Mulligan

Eve

Inspired by: Constance Bigelow, 1945 Debutante (Miss Meriwether Lewis Cowgill) Kenro Izu, Blue #1010B

watercolor on paper

6″ x 7.5″ (unframed), 9″ x 10.5″ (framed)

2024

$350

A debutante is a woman who embodies both purity and temptation. In this sense, one could say that Eve is the original debutante. Here, I have depicted Eve in a pose inspired by Edward Hodges Baily’s statue Eve Listening to the Voice of Adam. She is shown either emerging from or disappearing into the shadows, an homage to Blue #1010B. The layers of watercolor, rendered in a muted gray, were created by combining three pigments: buff titanium, raw umber, and cerulean blue. This combination produces a shifting gray reminiscent of stone—both cool and warm—adding to the duality to the image.

@dianepaintsflowers

Diane Mulligan

Sunbather

watercolor on stretched hot press paper

5″ x 7″

2024

$100 (sold)

A late summer scene of a happy cow in sunny field, inspired by a trip to Cooper’s Hilltop Farm in Leicester, MA.

@dianepaintsflowers

Diane Mulligan

Snowshoeing at Donker Farm

watercolor on 100% cotton rough watercolor paper

18″ x 22″

2023

Donker Farm is a Greater Worcester Land Trust property near Tatnuck Square. To visit the farm is to glimpse the rural landscape that once existed in Worcester. Although I painted this at my studio from reference photos I took on a snowy stroll, I tried to be true to life by depicting the farm yard as it is, clutter and all. This is a lived-in place, not a museum. As an Urban Sketcher, I am moved to document places near my home in Worcester as a record of my experiences.

@dianepaintsflowers

Diane Mulligan

Summer at Red Rock Canyon, NV

Watercolor on 100% Cotton Paper

16″ x 20″

2023

Summer at Red Rock Canyon, NV was painted from a photograph I took on a trip to the Southwest last year. The early summer light blazes and bleaches the landscape, but all sorts of green things find a way to grow in the dry rocky soil.

@dianepaintsflowers

Diane Mulligan

The Moat Garden

watercolor on ampersand aquabord

8″ x 10″

2023

This field of poppies and blue cornflowers is inspired by the Moat Garden at the Tower of London. On a recent visit to London, I fell in love with this oasis of wildflowers in the middle of the bustling metropolis. This painting was made from location sketches and photographs I took during my visit, when common poppies, California poppies, blue cornflowers, and Queen Anne’s Lace filled the beds to overflowing. It’s always a good idea to stop and enjoy flowers wherever we may find them.

@dianepaintsflowers

Diane Mulligan

Nick’s Woods

watercolor on 100% cotton paper

16″ x 20″

2024

In this piece, I have tried to capture the magic of spring at Nick’s Woods, a Greater Worcester Land Trust property in Worcester.

@dianepaintsflowers