Christmas Roses : 2017

"Christmas Roses"

2017

Despite the cold weather I wandered around our cottage garden this afternoon and was thrilled to see the Christmas Roses in full bloom. These flowers have always fascinated me. They tend to grow with their heads facing downwards so their inner beauty is often hidden. Maybe like people, where our hearts tshine but others can't see how good they are. Or how kind.

I picked a few of the flowers and brought them into my studio to paint. My flowers have unfortunately been hit by frost, but to me this adds to the colour choices available to me to paint white subjects. I created a floral arrangement to work from using stems and twigs and began painting.

This is my first painting of Christmas Roses this year but it definitely won't be my last. In fact I have three washes right now painted with these beautiful floral subjects in mind and I am going to work on them, taking my time to enjoy what I am seeing in full view.

A lovely way to spend an afternoon. But thank heavens my studio is warm as it is freezing cold outside! 

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Monday,My Blank Piece of Paper.

Christmas Rose First Wash

How fast Monday seems to come around!  I have a week ahead which is my blank canvas. I can choose to paint it as beautiful, quiet or as busy as I wish. I was eager for my week to begin so placed a colourful wash on a large white piece of paper last night for me to look at this morning as the first thing I saw when I walked into my studio.

I have a variety of Hellebore ( Chritmas Roses ) that I am enjoing playing with in colour combinations so these inspired this loose fresh wash. I have also been experimenting with  ideas for an antique finish to my work. I am really thrilled with one experiment which will be included in my next book.

I loved how this wash turned out. I think of that word " control" and smile. With watercolour the joy is in the freedom of working with it. Not trying to be its master!

I am reminded of my hair as a child. The curls used to be constantly  shorn as they  always were difficult to handle. And yet left alone they were beautiful. In my teens I was too blind to see this. All of my life I yearned for straight hair when everyone around me was admiring the natural curl I was lucky to possess.

We miss the obvious. We often wish to change things that do not need changing in life.

Isn't watercolour exactly the same?

Enjoy it. Celebrate its magical way of forming patterns and allow it to show you what it can do.

 I am so eager to paint today..........I hope you are too!

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Thank you to everyone who has contacted me to let me know how much my blog is inspiring them to paint. One small word of kindness  often starts a ripple that turns into something even more wonderful. I truly appreciate  your wonderful feedback.

Christmas Roses in Watercolour

Christmas Roses First Wash . W& N Watercolours.

Amazingly that little scrap  of paper I used for a warm up exercise from my imagination yesterday led me to thinking what could happen if I set out to deliberately paint Christmas Roses. Rather than just play with colour how about  using the snow from outside my window as inspiration for these beautiful flowers with their heads appearing from the  snowflake crystals? But as always I want far more than just a painting. I want life in my work and a sense of movement. Maybe even a feeling of seeing the flowers as if in a dream?

Working with Indian Rag paper I have literally dropped colour on saturated paper. The extremely wet sections allowed the colour to spread at will.

And looking closely the negative shape of the flower  minus the use of masking fluid has wonderful soft and hard edges. We can almost feel the flower appearing already.

 

This is my treat to me. A first wash to work on tomorrow morning.One that has me eager to continue with and enjoy. A painting that may lead to a million others.

All from one tiny exercise which has inspired me to explore further.

Tip: Experiment often to discover original ideas and  try new subjects as often as possible!