Happy St Davids Day!

 

 Spring Celebration.

Original Watercolour by Jean Haines

Many of my friends know I am from Wales. Many of my friends know little about this or  how wonderful Wales is. As a child  I would celebrate every St Davids Day by wearing or carrying  a daffodil to school. The daffodil is our national flower. The boys wore leeks so I think the girls had a far better option! I would be dressed like a little doll in a Welsh costume and be walked in the village to our tiny school. Here we would celebrate our Patron Saints day by singing Welsh  songs and dancing traditional Welsh dances. I have to admit the girls all loved it but the boys didn't seem quite so enthusiastic! To this day I still adore singing. My Welsh heritage I suppose.

I look back at this time with a mixture of memories. I remember all the girls walking to school dressed so beautifully. Excited at being able to dress up.To this day I always have daffodils in my home wherever I am in the world on 1st March. It is amazing how much I paid for the privilege in some countries but the most amazing St Davids Day of all was spent with me singing on stage in Japanese to an audience of 2000 people whilst living in Hong Kong. While you sing it is  usual on these occasions for  those who enjoy your performance to come on stage and present you with flowers. One of the bouquets was a wonderful bunch of daffodils and I could hardly hold back the emotional tears because I love these flowers so much and they reminded me of home.

My life is full of amazing stories and golden opportunities and  I have been asked many times to write a book but for now I am going to focus on my art because it is where my heart is joyous and singing right now.

If you like me are painting daffodils to celebrate Spring or if you areWelsh and enjoying St Davids Day here is an idea I use when teaching. I place tubes of colour next to the real subject to decide which pigments suit my subject best.Not only the subject but also the background too.You can see how this worked for this flower.

 Colour selection Example.

Dydd Dewi Sant Hapys.......or in English, Happy St Davids Day!

 I hope your  week ahead is full of sunshine either by your painting it or by the real thing!

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