Tag: blossoms

Spring Orchard

I had to miss my oil painting class yesterday as I had some things to do and some workmen to work. I had planned to use gouache while I waited. The workmen came, but I didn’t get around to painting at all. This afternoon I made up for my missed paint time. Spring is nearly here, so Spring it is!

As with any medium, if I have not used it for awhile, I need to get used to it again. As I was playing and it was lying around, I picked up my pad of Strathmore Vision watercolor paper. This is not a great paper for watercolor, but I love it for pen and ink. Why not gouache?

What I like about gouache is that it is opaque, yet diluted it becomes transparent – or certainly thin enough to show the colors beneath it. I painted with an angle brush and thin paint, laying in colors. Details were done with a small, pointed round. Additionally, as this is artists’ gouache and non-acrylic, the colors can be re-wet, and thus some fun blending can happen. I used all my little tricks to refresh my gouache memory, and here we are.

Gouache, Strathmore Vision paper, 9×12.

Ode to Spring

Ode to Spring (by Andrew Elliott)

Oh glory be to things that grow!
That burgeon, blossom, bud and blow
In Springtime’s light and airy breeze,
Which ruffles softly new sprung leaves.

What tongue there be to justly praise
The wonders wrought by Vernal days?
These beauties bright which turn, indeed,
Each frozen heart to flaming glede.

O Daffodil! O Daffodil!
That covers well each downy hill—
E’en Solomon was not arrayed
In splendour such as you displayed.

Ah! Lovely Tulip, what to you
Is all the wealth of Timbuktu?
What, then, the gain of dye from Tyre—
When Gladdons blaze with purple fire?

Thou Cowslip and thou Daisy fair—
Thou Foxglove, Rose, and Lily rare—
Much more is your surpassing worth
Than all the gems throughout the earth!

Consider well what ecstasy
Lies cloistered in each Peony—
That dormant wait until the hour
Their chains are loosed, then start to flow’r.

Oh Spring, indeed, thou teachest well
That man, though wise, knoweth not the spell
Which makes all things by beauty bound—
That Mystery which none hath found.

In Bloom

I have been updating some of my photography stuff, and part of that process is going through the archives. I took this with a film camera, and I have no idea when I did. It was taken at the local botanical garden.  I also didn’t see it in my quick scan through my media files on this blog, so I thought it would be a good one to share.  If I already published it, well, enjoy it again – I am.

Spring is such a wonderful time of year, and it doesn’t pay to miss it! I was at the garden yesterday to see the daffodils and narcissus toward sunset and did not have time to wander through this area – but I will in the not too distant future, and hopefully be able to capture more trees in bloom.

The Orchard

This is by far the painting which took the most time to produce.  There was – gasp! – actual forethought and planning done.  Can you believe it?  Does that mean I’m progressing or something?!?

Anyway, what I did was consider what I wanted to see.  I also thought about some things I have observed other watercolorists do, namely underpainting.  I also have been reading and seeing many painters lay out light colors, in a general way, move into medium washes with perhaps more detail, darker areas, and finally the details.  This is what I did, but, before painting, I put down a lot of frisket in the shape of dots.  Then, the first pale layer of wash.  Between the third and fourth photos, I did more frisket.  Dots again, but I also used a toothbrush for splatter, and drew lines over the green washes, to retain colors.  Then the fourth layer.  At that point I stopped for the night.

This morning, I rather knew what I wanted to do.  I laid down a pale wash over the grassy areas of quinacridone gold and sap green.  It was necessary to pull the grasses together.  Finally, I removed the frisket and did a bunch of details complete the painting.  Total time – about 5 hours!  All of it was fun, and not a lot of frustration.  I think because I took time, and because I am less “serious” about my stuff (knowing it won’t be what I envision) really helps.

Below, a gallery of the steps I took in the painting, if you are interested in the process.