Yup Spring is definitely here! Although bare trees from the winter have yet to grow leaves, flowers are starting to bloom slowly. And indoors as well as outdoors too! Some of the indoor plants which had gotten all sad and droopy in the colder months, have suddenly resurrected looking all happy and lively again. Even one of my Valentine’s gifts! Back in February, my boyfriend gave me a glass vase consisting of just flower bulbs and a cute red heart-shaped ornament. “Wait till it grows”, he smiled. Sure enough, these bulbs have started developing the past week or so with tulips emerging. So beautiful! And of course I was inspired. Back to some flower paintings again!
Pencil Sketch
I have lately been under the weather lately, and as I suspected I have indeed caught a bout of the Omicron virus. Oops! But who hasn’t gotten it? My energy levels have plunged and am slowly trying to get them all back. Perhaps I best start with some simple sketching, and if I am up for it, finish it off with watercolor. A goods start. then, when I decided to open my watercolor sketchbook (Strathmore’s Visual Journal for Watercolor) and begin sketching. I did not draw exactly as the plants were but used them as an inspiration and idea for my drawing. For instance, I added more hearts just to give the composition more continuity.
Coloring Them Beautiful
And I was now definitely up for painting them in! This time, I chose a set of watercolors used only once before: Dr. Ph Martin’s Radiant Concentrated Water Colors. So impressed with how strong, and as the name implies, radiant the colors turned out, they definitely had a place in this painting too! As usual I started with the background and worked my way into the subject. Two different tones of yellows were used for the background with the darker gradually on the bottom. Although the actual tulips were more white with pink stripes, I went straight for vivid pink (Moss Rose as main with a bit of Alpine Rose). And the green! I loved that one Green they had, and that was the Grass Green. The heart shapes were in Scarlet, and for the brown bulbs I merely mixed the green and red together. Once dry, I introduced some thin streaks on the plant with some white gel pen. Et voilà!
A bit different from my usual style of artwork but it was a way to get started again as I’ve been rather unwell. Besides, it is always good to add variety to your work, isn’t it? And of course another great excuse to try out my set of Radiant Concentrated Water Color which indeed was so radiant that it managed boosted my energy a little. Looking forward to painting and journaling more again, and writing about my past paintings here soon. Slowly but surely it’s great to be back. And meanwhile, I shall enjoy watching the rest of the tulip bulbs develop and emerge into beautiful flowers!
My Kawaii Quarter 