Peonies are my very favorite flower - expect to see more of these in my collection.  The reference photo for these beauties was taken by me at the Morton Arboretum while on a "field trip" with my grandkids.  I create photo realistic paintings like this by a process of painting abstract shapes, layering and combining them into a whole.  Our vision then blurs those shapes together into a detailed image of the subject - in this case, peonies on a beautiful day in May. 

This piece was done using Prismacolor pencils on Stonehenge white paper worked an Icarus heated drawing board.  The heated board melts the wax in the pencils as they contact the paper, making them flow more like paint in stick form, and intensifying the colors.