My two favourite tree peonies are Ariadne (the subject of this page) and Gaugain. Planted near each other at Nichols Arboretum on the southern side of the eastern end of the Peony Garden, both were bred by a Greek American painter, Nassos Dauphnis, and both feature creamy yellow with touches of pink and deep brownish red markings. Daphnis named his varieties after figures in Greek mythology, or painters; and despite differences in their breeding they look quite similar to my (uneducated eyes.)

Panasonic Lumix LX100 Photographed, image edited (cropping, colour balance) 31May2020.

The flowers tend to be more pendulous and smaller than some of the other tree peonies, and I suspect the plants also may not be as hardy—Gaugain was struggling somewhat, this year, and Ariadne didn't even produce buds.

The sketch was made in a spiral bound Canson watercolor sketchbook featuring 140g/300lb cold press paper, 5.5x8.5 inches (13.9cm x 21.6cm) Despite the fact both the sketch and photo appear to be upside down (later notes about year and cultivar notwithstanding) the orientation is correct.

I painted from life, but also took reference this reference shot (afterwards), in case I wanted to try a tighter rendition, or for comparative purposes (as shown here).

So how do I know I took the shot afterwards, besides it being my usual approach? Well, there's about a 15 minute gap between the reference shot, and the prior picture, whereas most are less than a minute apart.

07jun22: added peony tag

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.