Waterlilies in Watercolour 2018

"Side by Side"

Dedicated to two sisters who inspire me constantly.

Carol and Gayle.

How funny life is. I woke this morning determined to work on my new book. The paintings in it so far look stunning and are hopefully my best ever. I know I am growing in my personal art journey and gaining many "light bulb "moments as ideas on technique hit me over and over again recently. I am dying to host my next workshops with so much to share but I will be demonstrating at Patchings Art Festival soon. So can at least show everyone my new favourite colours and techniques there.  N.B. Please do  pre order your tickets if you want to watch me as they apparently are selling fast.

And so I came into my studio this morning absolutely raring to go on compiling a new chapter for my new book. I had dreamt abou tit all night. But I took a few photographs of my garden first and shared them on Facebook.  My mistake or was it?  I have many friends on my personal Facebook page who I have met over the years especially on tour. Two wonderful friends I love staying in touch with on line are Gayle and Carol. sisters from Oregon USA.  They have the most wonderfully loving family, are both fantastic creatives on every level and I adore hearing from them and seeing their Facebook posts.  They probably have no idea how much I love seeing their name whether they are posting or replying to me, but I do.

This morning I shared a photograph of the water lilies that are on the pond in our cottage garden. These flowers are absolutely glorious this year. Shortly after I had posted the photo Gayle responded with " I would love to see you paint this". I smiled. I had no time to paint water lilies today but the idea was now firmly planted in my brain. Try as I might I couldn't ignore my artists' heart strings begging me to paint these beautiful floral blooms. As I worked hard on my new book I couldn't help but realise I have never painted a full composition of waterlilies before. The thought would not leave me.

Well. I guess you know where this blog post is going. The above painting is of course a clue! 

I pulled a scrap of paper out of my trash bin and looked at it. It could work easily as a background for a painting of water lilies and before you could say "dragon fly" I was off.  Far away from my pre-planned schedule andI was  painting the above scene. And how very happy it made me.

I could hug Gayle for pushing me in this alternative direction and strangely enough I now have an idea for my new book that could incorporate this painting! A huge bonus from going astray.

You know, life has a very strange way of making you do the things you should do when you need to . If you would only listen to what your instincts are telling you. We don't though. We often quell what we feel would be a fabulous thing to do because another far more important deed or chore needs our attention.

Well as far as I am concerned life is far too short to ignore doing what we want. As a child I was often told what I could and couldn't do. What I could and couldn't wear. As an adult I am darned if I am going to be " told what to do" and "when to do it".

I am going to have fun non stop and if the above painting is an example of me painting for me I think I'm onto a roll and a winning formula.

So my artists tip for today is?

Do what you really want to do and if a subject pulls at your heart strings to paint it don't leave that particular piece until tomorrow or when you have " time"

Paint it today!

I just did!

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Gayle and Carol, I was going to paint you two white roses today as you are on my mind but Gayle disracted me and I am so grateful for that distraction. Thank you! 

Hugs to you both xxxx 

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