First Crocus ~ Sigrid Frensen

Spring is coming slowly this way. Yesterday I dug up a Crocus from my garden. Once inside I could almost see it grow. Even though I was in the middle of another drawing I had to be quick and paint this fast. So, with a piece of thread around the petals, I painted it last night.

This is Crocus tommasinianus 'Ruby Giant'. Really odd name for this Crocus since it is not Ruby red nor is it a giant. It's small and purple. Little gems they are, they were right about that.
And like a friend of mine said to me last night, it's like she's putting her arms up in the air to celebrate spring is here at last!

Spring Bulbs - Carolyn Pappas

To celebrate the last day of tax season yesterday, I sat in the garden and did this sketch in the evening while sipping a cup of tea. It was a little chilly, but it has since dropped 20 degrees and it is supposed to rain (and maybe even snow) this weekend. I'm glad I took the opportunity to get outside a bit. I did the watercolor part afterwards, inside.

Orange Tulip ~ Sigrid Frensen

In my last post I said that I don't like tulips. I guess I should have written it a bit different. I like tulips in my garden or in a vase on the table (hey, I am Dutch you know) but I just don't like painting them. I don't like painting flowers in general. Too much showing off their beauty or something.

Sometimes, however, you have to paint other things too. Tulips for me is something new and different. Lots of colour and smooth shapes. It's definitely stepping out of my comfort zone.

Today I painted an orange tulip. Very Dutch, being a tulip and being orange. It was fun. This one was bending over a bit so you could almost look inside. This showed the overlapping petals more than the previous tulip I did. To give the tulip more depth I made the shadow parts really dark. I always like a bit of drama ;)

Girlie Tulip ~ Sigrid Frensen

I've so had it with this winter. It was too cold and too dark for too long. I really need spring now. To get myself a bit of spring-feeling I bought loads of tulips this week.

Next month I'll join a botanical painting course again. This time the tutor will be Anne-Marie Evans. The theme that week will be tulips. I'm not a tulip fan. I never painted them before. Well, I had to last year in the previous course. But never voluntarily.

Today I did. One of my tulips is now also a watercolour. I thought it would be good to get some practice with my watercolours and the tulips before the course. There will be more tulips to come. Anyway....This is a very girlie one but it was fun to paint. Hope you like it too :)