i’m jealous of thomas darnell

Ahhhh, peonies! Can you smell these from where you are?! I think I can! I saw these on The Artful Desperado last week and immediately fell in love. Here’s why…

1. Peonies are my most favorite flower ever.

2. These are paintings. PAINTINGS.

3. That’s all.

These insanely beautiful paintings are the work of Texas based artist Thomas Darnell. So gorgeous! Oh, if only they were really really really big…

YES ♥

{via the artful desperado}






comments (19)

  1. erin /// 08.20.2013 /// 10:26am

    wow, so beautiful. i’m jealous, too!

  2. Molly Swanson /// 08.20.2013 /// 10:58am

    WOW! Those are INCREDIBLE! delicate, but so stunning!

  3. laura redburn // cardboardcities /// 08.20.2013 /// 11:37am

    SO stunning! the fact that these are peonies make them EVEN BETTER! aaaaah.

  4. the jealous curator /// 08.20.2013 /// 12:13pm

    i know…. he paints other flowers (on his site) but peonies… you just can’t beat a BIG pink peony! : )

  5. Tom Dad /// 08.20.2013 /// 7:42pm

    Nat, this was your paternal Grandma, Teresa Franz Uhing’s favorite flower, and she had lots of them in different colors and species behind the house in her big garden. Pink, some dark, dark red, white, magenta. You might remember the opening screen of the Broadway musical, “My Fair Lady” starts with just such large peony closeups! So Cecil Beaton! Love!

  6. Kreetta /// 08.20.2013 /// 9:49pm

    w.o.w.

  7. tiffanie /// 08.21.2013 /// 9:05am

    Amazing. We should hold a giant peony convention! 😉

  8. Lori Hudson /// 08.21.2013 /// 9:34am

    I recently tried painting peonies. They must be the most difficult flowers to recreate! These are amazing!

  9. Mary Gaspar /// 08.22.2013 /// 5:51am

    This blows me away! Super Gorgeous…what a kicka** addition to one’s home decor no?!! Amazing. Thanks for sharing as usual!!!

  10. the jealous curator /// 08.22.2013 /// 8:10am

    yes! i can’t even imagine having one of these taking up an entire wall… living room, bedroom, dining room? anywhere really! : )

  11. Maggie /// 08.23.2013 /// 12:17pm

    Jealous Curator I’ve newly discovered your site so thank you for all of your hardwork! Kudos to you I discovered the work of Philip Barlow and then stumbled upon the work of his two brothers. Talk about talent running in the famliy. Anyway …check out the peonies by Simon Barlow

  12. the jealous curator /// 08.23.2013 /// 1:17pm

    ooh! gorgeous! thanks for the tip : )

  13. Kim johnson /// 08.26.2013 /// 6:26pm

    Those paintings are unbelievable! Thanks for sharing, such an inspiration!

  14. the jealous curator /// 08.26.2013 /// 8:49pm

    aren’t they incredible? so so good.

  15. Cynthia bryant /// 07.31.2014 /// 11:04pm

    I also thank you for these amazing paintings. Jealous is not the word for how I feel, envy is more like it. They make my heart swell with longing to have such a talent.

  16. Diane Perry /// 08.11.2015 /// 2:41pm

    Jealous Curator…. we thought they would look beautiful large too! Available as wall mural wallpaper! http://www.areaenvironments.com/thomas-darnell/

  17. catherine /// 02.11.2016 /// 4:53am

    I love peonies. And now I love peonies painted by Thomas Darnell. Wowza.

  18. Ruby /// 07.10.2016 /// 8:28pm

    I would love any tips as to how to begin to draw/ paint a giant peoney in muted colours in watercolours or pencils and even carbon.
    Your work is so inspiring and yet daunting!
    Absolutely breathtaking.
    Thanks Ruby

  19. teri.GREECE /// 05.15.2017 /// 11:11pm

    breathtaking…..