“I sit before flowers, hoping they will train me in the art of opening up,”
So says modern poet Shane Koyczan.
For five days I’ve been sitting in front of “a host, of golden daffodils” willing them to train me in the art of capturing their glory in watercolours.
“I gazed-and gazed” but found that yellow on yellow is really difficult! Keep it loose and there’s not enough definition – add detail and it looks overworked. Whilst the paint was still wet I went back in with a watercolour crayon which seeemed to work fairly well. Oh and on the vase I used a white wax crayon to (kind of) define the water line.
Here’s the best one out of VERY many attempts.
Although after reading the very talented artist Kate Osborne’s excellent post on “Cropping” I tried this….
…but decided that this one is probably best? Actually, surprisingly, cropping is also more difficult than I assumed it would be.
Frustration aside, I enjoyed using my paints again – a necessary change from designing for my ** Zazzle store.
Ever the optimist, I plan doing some cutsie watercolours of themes suitable for children, which eill be incorporated into designs for greeting cards and various other items…you guessed…for my ** Zazzle store!
“And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.”
With apologies to William Wordsworth.
** I closed my Zazzle shop in March 2017
PIGMENTS OF MY IMAGINATION 
Gorgeous work!!!
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The daffodils are starting to come up around me. Spring is almost here! I love your colorful daffodils. I actually like the full (not cropped) painting the best. You get more daffodils that way. :) Lovely work.
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Oh how I envy your talent! You’ve really given the feel of springtime and sunshine to your painting – and managed all those yellows beautifully. Like Carol above, I prefer the full sized one – and for the same reason. Well done, June.
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Very kind of you to say so – thank you Laura.
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Thanks Carol – and for saying which one you like best, it can be difficult to judge your own work. I love Spring, especially as it means that Summer is almost here.
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Thanks for your lovely comment Rose – the scanned images can often look better online than the original. Thanks for picking a favourite. I’ll probably use it for a card or poster.
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These are gorgeous, June! They move and sparkle! I love it that I see evidence of the drawing in these, too, giving me some of the entire process in their creation. The yellow on yellow worked out just fine for you.
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Oh thanks so much Leslie. They were a challenge. The drawing lines that you can see is where I went in with a watercolour crayon whilst the paint was still wet – I felt they needed the definition.
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Thank you for telling me that. The crayons are something I have purchased but not found much use for. I like how you used them, here!
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Also good for drawing before adding paint in the same colour – they blend in with the paint and disappear.
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