Don Gray paintings

Large, painterly, realistic fine art paintings of dead sunflowers. "Originally painted in the field, these sunflowers, standing about eight feet high, were then cut and brought into the studio in a watering can. There I painted versions two and three. This is the third and last one. The flowers and leaves progressively became very dry, but in their own crinkled, spiky way, as beautiful as when they were alive and growing. They are beautiful as forms, solid, three-dimensional substance, as well as obviously very expressive of the process of life. Van Gogh, the king of sunflower painters, realized both the beauty and significance of the varying stages of sunflower life."