"Spring Still Life with Bleeding Heart" (watercolor; 8" x 8")

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Another watercolor floral pick-me-up!  I am going to let you in on a secret.  The pink camellia was not pink at all in my original arrangement; I only have a white camellia bush in my garden.  When I painted the flower as was in the reference photo, it simply faded away into the white background.  I rescued it by adding a pink blush!

"Peony Glory" (watercolor; 8" x 8") sold

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I said in an earlier post that I vary my approach to painting watercolors.  With "Peony Glory", I pretty much finished the flower and buds before moving onto the negative space.  There is no one perfect way of starting and finishing a painting.  "Be flexible and have fun" is my motto!

About half way through the painting.

"Peony Blush" (watercolor; 7" x 5") sold

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During the peony season, I go outside to check my peonies every morning: did any buds open today?  I fine one.  A pink peony bud opening shyly to the morning sun is a blushing beauty!

"Coneflowers and Daisies" (oil on linen; 8" x 12") sold

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A few years ago, I bought a packet of wildflower seeds and spread it in a small sunny garden patch right next to the sidewalk.  Who knew that coneflowers, daisies, and black-eyed susans, etc. will come back year after year?  My husband thought they were too tall, wild, and out of control.  So I tried to get rid of them.  A word of advice.  Be careful with wildflowers.  They are HARD to get rid of.

I kind of like the cottage-garden look of my "warm-palette" wildflower patch.  It doesn't look as pretty as the painting now, with lots of spent flower heads that need to be trimmed.  But who has the time!

"Primroses by Window" (oil on linen; 12" x 12") sold

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On the third day of Gregory Packard's workshop, at our vigorous request, he did another demo, this time, from life.  As it turns out, he often paints from his photos.  We were all surprised to learn this.  As I have become "addicted" to painting from photos myself, I actually felt relieved.  There is no right way.  A beautiful painting is beautiful whether it was painted from life or from a photo.

For his second demo, Greg picked a still life setup someone had used the day before--wilting azaleas in a pretty striped ceramic vase.  It was another washout day.  Rain, rain, rain.  Virginia was becoming the Washington state.  The weak light from outside and the artificial light from above produced an unpromising lighting condition.  It was a test.  Could Greg Packard paint a vibrant still life in this challenging condition?

We sat there, mesmerized by how Greg brought life to wilting flowers and light to a still life.  As the light source was not strong, the painting was overall muted, quite different from his first demo painting.  Having struggled with the iris painting the day before, I was humbled and awed to see how he transformed what he saw into what he envisioned--fresh azaleas bathed in soft light.

After the demo, I painted "Primroses by Window," based on a photo I took at Petworth House in West Sussex, England in March.  My grays have become less garish; my greens, softer.  Just like in Greg's second demo painting, the lighting is muted here.  So I painted a gentle still life.  I was pleased.  I think Greg was pleased too.

"Dogwood and Scabiosa" (watercolor on paper; 9" x 7")

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matted size: 14" x 11"

The dogwood in the painting is the late-blooming variety with pointy petals.  Scabiosa is also called pincushion flowers.  One of the longest blooming perennials, pincushion flowers have old-fashioned charm, which I think complement the dogwood perfectly. They get their name from the shape of their flowers; don't you think they resemble little pincushions?

In case you are wondering, "Dogwood and Scabiosa" is the tenth in my "Spring Fever" series.  If you want to win a painting from the series at the end of the month, please sign in to follow my blog.  Thanks!

"Pink Lungwort" (watercolor on Yupo; 8 1/2" x 8 1/2") sold

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The lungwort is an invasive, shade-loving palnt.  It's taking over one side of my garden. I keep digging them up and sharing them with my gardening friends.  We all love it!  The matted size is 12 x 12".

If you want to win a painting from my "Pastry Pleasure" series at the end of the month, please sign in to follow my blog.  Thanks!

"Pink Tulips in Spring Garden" (oil on linen; 10" x 12") sold

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Reference photo

Last Sunday I worked in my garden for six hours, weeding evil wild strawberries.  The mild winter has done wonders for this relatively tolerable weed, turning it into the 10-inch-tall, garden-chocking, monster!  I did take a few breaks, though, to drink water and take pictures of flowers in my garden.  The above photo was my favorite. 

"Tulips and Creeping Phlox" was painted on Monday, because I couldn't wait, despite the general fatigue and bad aches in the neck and lower back.  A couple of hours into painting, I no longer felt any fatigue.  Perhaps, it was the pain killer.  Or, I would like to think, the magic of art.  The mauve tulips are the stars of the show.  But without the chorus line of the blue creeping phlox, would they have worked as well? 

By the way, the creeping phlox is the talk of my neighborhood.  Three years ago, I transplanted a small clump, which was barely hanging on, chocked under yews, azaleas, and vinca vines, to the current open location under a mature crepe myrtle.  Neighbors stop to ask us what it is, then compliment us on its beauty.  My husband and I garden because we love flowers.  But it's not just we, but the entire neighborhood, who get to enjoy them.  I don't volunteer at Green Spring Gardens Park, which is not far from where we live.  Nevertheless, I contribute to the community in my own way and am proud of it.

"Bleeding Heart Love" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

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You don't have to be a bleeding-heart Liberal to love the bleeding heart.  It has attractive mounded foliage with arching stems of delicate, heart-shaped flowers.  Indeed, I consider it, not the rose, the most loving plant.  Its heart is so full of love that it splits up to show its innards!  When she was little, my daughter used to pick a bleeding heart and give it to me as a token of her love.  On top of its lovely form, it thrives in moist shade gardens.  Perfect!

I took the above picture in mid-April last year.  It is not blooming yet, although I am sure it will send me to a floral heaven way before that time this year.  It's been in the 70's everyday; it is even warmer today.  Dwarf sour cherries are blooming in my garden; they didn't yesterday.  I am in the midst of a serious spring fever, painting away spring flowers everyday.  I couldn't wait for bleeding hearts until April.

Dwarf Sour Cherries blooming in my garden

So I printed out the reference photo and happily painted "Bleeding Heart Love."  Quite a bit of drawing though.  You see, love does not come by without hard work.

"Crocuses and Miniature Daffodils" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

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Reference photo

Crocuses are one of the first flowers that bloom in a spring garden.  Their yellow, white, and purple flowers shout, "Wake up!  It's spring!"  In some years, these hardy babies will poke through a snow-covered ground.  Not this year, of course.  They naturalize nicely too, multiplying year after year.   Gardeners love them for one more reason.  Deer don't seem to care for them. 

Another spring bulb deer avoid to the gardeners' delight is the daffodil.  Miniature daffodils, my husband informs me, are the ancestors of modern, big, flashy daffodils.  As you can see in the above picture, they are about the same height as and perfect companions for crocuses.

One thing I have noticed lately while painting spring flowers is that flowers in a natural setting look, well, more natural than those in a still-life setup.  A good reason to get out there and dig.  It is hard to be inside painting when it is a glorious spring day outside.

"First Snowdrops" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

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Reference photo

I did it!  Instead of sitting on a nice photo forever, I made a painting out of it right away.  Aren't you proud of me?  As I mentioned in an earlier entry, I took the above picture last Sunday.  The first sighting of these delicate white flowers always signals the imminent arrival of spring.  However, the joy has been considerably marred by the unseasonably warm weather we've been "blessed" with this winter.  Today's forecast in northern Virginia is in the upper 60's! 

Some people are basking in the warmth; others hate it, sad at the want of the fluffy snow.  I happen to live with two of the latter.  I don't mind the spring-like temperature.  But I am sore at the missed opportunity to paint snow on location as my plein-air friends had vowed to do so this winter.  Oh, well.

"Spring Bouquet with Azaleas" (oil on linen, 14" x 11") sold

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I thought I would paint some azaleas before they die out.  What other flowers would complement them?  I found chives, sweet williams and blue pincushion flowers.  After the latest still life project, I learned my lesson, so this painting is smaller, the vase a simple blue mug, and the cloth just a backdrop.  As the azaleas were already showing signs of stress, I also took a picture as a backup.

I zoomed in to fill the canvas with the setup.  The design employs a classic cross shape.  The white azaleas in the shadow had to be repainted a couple of times so that they were keyed correctly.

Garden Flower Journal (pen and watercolor, 9" x 4" ea)

As some of you may remember, I make my own journal books with good watercolor paper.  With a full sheet (22 x 30"), I come up with six 9 x 9" pages for my journals, plus three 4 x 9" cards.  I didn't know what to do with them until I came up with a brilliant idea of making slender journals for whatever projects I felt like.  Thus was born the "Garden Flower Journal," from which I am sharing some pages today.

The idea was to keep track of the flowers growing in my garden and a nearby park through the spring (2009).  I drew directly with a Micron pen, which is waterproof, then loosely added a watercolor wash.  With the same pen, I also did the lettering and jotted down notations.  The unusual format of the paper made me work hard on the design of each page.

As I was looking through the pages of this journal the other day, an inspiration came to me.  Why not start a "Fruits and Vegetables Journal"?  Many vegetables and fruits are elongated.  Think bananas, cucumbers, green onions, leeks, zucchinis, bokchoy, etc.  As for fruits, I can line up strawberries, cherries, and so on.  For large, globular fruits like watermelons, I can slice them up.  How fun!  I will keep you posted.

"Geraniums in Hanging Basket" (oil on linen; 7" x 5") sold

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Although it's a decent weather and Thursday, one of my plein-air painting days, I stayed put and painted this piece.  In my garden, a hanging basket with geranium flowers is still going strong in last November, as if it is defying the inexonerable march of seasons.  All around are trees that are becoming increasingly bare.  Soon the summer will be only a memory.