Painted in my garden
Spring 2015
The sun shone yesterday morning and I couldn't resist sitting quietly in my garden to paint the first of this years daffodils. As it was St Davids day this really was an appropriate subject!
Daffodils are the national flower of Wales. As a child I would wear the Welsh national costume on this day to go to school and I would be carrying a bunch of golden daffodils. Singing Welsh songs was a wonderful way to celebrate the occasion. Every year I always have a bouquet of these pretty flowers in our cottage on March 1st, St Davids Day.
This year, however, the sun was shining brightly and even though I am fighting off a cold I dressed up warmly and braved the cool winds to paint flowers that are growing in one of my cottage flower beds. They are leaning forward slightly as if their heads are bowing in prayer.
I could have, of course, simply taken a photo and painted from that. But we miss so much as artists when we don't paint from life. Exciting new compositions and colour combinations face us daily as light changes on each new fabulous subject that we see.
I loved listening to bird song as I painted. Time flew by and I was really happy with my capture of the glorious golds in front of me. Now of course I want to paint a larger composition and I can from the study I enjoyed working on this morning.
Artist tip for the day? Be observant, paint from life and forget working from photographs all the time. Be a unique artist and look for something fantastic to paint every day!
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Your daffodils are stunning. Makes it feel like a sunny day.
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