Oh my! Spring Tulips!

Oh, what a welcome sight! Tulips Blooming!

The calendar says spring has sprung and when you see the tulips starting to pop up it's not hard to imagine that the winter is really behind us and warmer temps are just around the corner. My Tuesday Afternoon Watercolor class got their brushes wet this past week and painted some beautiful tulips from last year's photos. This is a work-in-progress shot of a tulip painting I started as a demo.
Here is a tip for painting red tulips in the sunshine. Paint the tulips yellow first, then glaze the red paint over the bright yellow tulips. You might like the variety of the mixed colors and decide to leave some yellow as you see in the example above. It's not completely finished, but I do like what I see so far!
I can't wait to go to the tulip fields to see them in full bloom this year! It won't be long the daffodils are blooming now and the tulips are not far behind.

Painting Geraniums - March 2009

My Tuesday Afternoon Watercolor Class will be painting geraniums during the month of March. Shown is an example of what happened on my paper last week. The blooms were painted freehand without drawing them first. And then I added the leaves... and they weren't drawn first either! Focus was placed on seeing and painting the shapes. Not only are we learning the anatomy of this pretty flower we are also learning how to use a variety of reds to create drama and interest and how to mix a bunch of luscious greens. This week we will try painting geraniums as potted plants. Come back to see the results!

A Rose for Lenora

I always think of February as a time for roses. I guess it could be that Valentine's Day is on the 14th. Here in the Pacific Northwest (where I live) roses still have a few months to wait before the sun comes out to give them the exposure they need to bloom. But I do love roses and I love to paint them.

This pretty pink rosebud was painted for Lenora, my SWAP partner. SWAP stands for Sharing With Artist Partners, an international group of artists who share their watercolors with each other quarterly.
I was pleased with the results of this 5x7 painting. As with most of my watercolors, I prefer to paint without a drawing and work out the shapes with my paintbrush as I paint. For this painting I started with the background. I wanted a cooler background so I could play up the warm backlit leaves in the foreground. I used a mixture of Ultramarine Turquoise and New Gamboge for the green background color charged with Carbazole Violet for the darks around and behind the rosebud.
About the rain drops… There are several prestigious rose gardens in the Seattle area. Last year I planned several “outings” to photograph roses and when the day arrived it was raining again and again….yep…that’s Seattle! So after 3 tries I went anyway. Got my umbrella out to protect my camera and came home with a ton of Raindrops on Roses photos.
Let me know if you like this one.

SUSIE