Mothers Day Bouquet : Work in Progress

Mothers Day Bouquet

Work in Progress on my Easel

This afternoon I collected more wind falls from my garden including knocked down daffodils, narcissus, hyacinth, grape hyacinth and primroses.  To make my "blown down" flowers more beautiful in an arrangement, I picked some yellow forsythia and plunged the lot into a glass jug.

Some flower stems were tall so they were obviously perfect for the top of the arrangement adding much needed height. Other stems were shorter and fitted next to the rim of the jug. I laughed when placing these short flowers in the jug. They reminded me of  myself in group photos whenever I am on tour. I am usually the shortest in the group.  I now look out for and deliberately stand next to artists who are as short, or are shorter than me. Maybe I could consider standing on a chair for the next group photo!

But back to my painting. As I looked at this jug of flowers I couldn't resist trying painting it and as I did so, memories of the art classes I took years ago came flooding back. Especially as I worked by adding colour first then picking out flower shapes within this bouquet composition.

I used to go to an art class once a week. I met terrific people there but I am not sure I  actually learnt very much. It was really more of a get together for people who liked painting. But each week there would always be a flower arrangement for those interested in painting flowers and I often found myself sat at that table painting what I saw. Which usually involved a weird jug or vase from the venues' store cupboard.

I can remember the tea breaks complete with biscuits. ( Cookies to my American friends.)  These biscuits were often the cheapest available and weren't really tempting to eat. Thank heavens things have changed in that department when I teach my own art courses!

I have yet to complete this painting. I need to re arrange a few flowers to make the composition more pleasing. The top daffodils are looking lovely, as is the forsythia there too but the section below needs adjusting which I hope to do tomorrow morning. This will be a nice painting to complete on Mothering Sunday which it is here in U.K tomorrow.

I will leave this painting on my easel and walk in tomorrow morning to see what it needs then, but after a full day painting I feel really happy to end my painting day on a sweet smelling bouquet.

Happy painting!

And to all the Mums, have a wonderful Mothers Day!

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