I like to explore a subject by painting a series, probably the largest one of which has been the ongoing series of French landscapes. But sometimes it's very good to paint something I've never painted before and have no plans to paint in a series. Such is the case with this rose, which is a 10 x 8 inch oil painting. In reality the background was a mix of a dark passageway and a sunlit wall...in order to avoid a distracting contrast in the background, I had to choose between a light or dark background. I wavered, and think that either could have worked...but am happy with the dark background for the rose.