Red, Purple and Yellow Tulips with Daffodils

Take a seat

I'm painting the boards for the seat of this bench today. Doug made a great little video of the project so far with a classical music soundtrack but we weren't able to get it to post here or on Facebook so I'll just burn it to a disc in case I find a way to use it later. Meanwhile I'd better get back to the paints.

Back to it

Back of Lilac Bench

The leaves and stems I've drawn don't quite show up in this shot but you can see the ones I've painted so far. I'm not sure whether I like the placement of the branches or not which of course Is why I started with the back of the project. I'll have a lot more ideas of how I want things and get a lot of practice drawing and painting by the time I get around to the front of it.

Strawberries and other blooms in the back yard today

New Project

 I've got an interesting project to tell you about. My first "art job" of the season is to paint some lilacs on a garden bench. The lilacs here aren't blooming yet so of course my first step was to have Doug pull up some pictures I could work with from the computer. The next step will be to sand the boards and then when I'm ready to start painting I'll clip a branch from my bushes to get the stem and leaf placement right. I'm not sure how long all of this will take but I'll post photos of each step along the way as soon as I get them.

At home with Flowers

This time of year I'm focused more on growing flowers than I am drawing them but I'm attempting to balance the two while I have the opportunity to draw and paint live flowers.
There was a rabbit and a few birds to keep me company in the yard today and temps in the 60's seemed to make everyone and everything happy.
Well, I'd better run and get a pen. Hope you'll be back to see what I do with it.

Double Daffodils

I grow 3 different types of daffodils here and there are just a few of two of them left so I'm drawing as often as I can while they last.

The 99 cent experiment continues...

In an effort to give people a chance to invest in original art and find a way to pay for the blank cards and envelopes I charged.  I've been listing a lot of the note card and envelope sets that I draw and paint on eBay. There's a drawing or painting on each card and envelope so starting around 50 cents each it's a once in a lifetime chance as I'm not likely to try THAT again. Results are mixed so far and it's hard to tell whether the watercolors or drawings will be more popular but I figured it was worth the risk to find out. I'll let you know how things turn out.

New Drawings on Cards and Envelopes from todays garden

 

Back in the garden at last

Watercolor Landscape Note Card and Envelope Sets

                                                                                                                                                                        I brought a lot of blank watercolor cards and envelopes to group this morning to hand out to everyone so they could share the fun of painting instead of working on a big, serious "works of art". I thinks it's a great way to relax into the process and get creative as well as have something nice to pop in the mail to surprise friends or relatives.

Plenty of choices

There are lots of choices today. Plenty of things blooming so all I've got to do now is decide what to reach for first, pen and ink, watercolors, colored pencil or acrylics.

My First Zinnia

This is my first Zinnia. I grew it in the dining room over the winter and now that it's bloomed I'm seeing just how many ways I can capture it in various media. I started with watercolor but plan to draw it in pen and ink or colored pencil next before heading to the studio to see what happens with acrylics.

First time for second chances

I'd read that you can wipe out or lift the color from watrcolor canvas panels so I took a damp rag to that Iris painting I'd been working on and scrubbed it. This is the result so far and still shows enough of the image that I could simply rework the image in colors and techniques that I like better.
I'll add pictures as it progresses.

Making Arrangements