3/10/10

CELEBRATE

This week has brought a wonderful change of weather. CELEBRATE! Leaves of flowers are finally popping up, and hope is in the air for winter to be about over.

These harbingers of spring were painted several years ago as a class demo. The whole paper was wet before the paint was loosely and liberally applied, then the little catkin shapes of the pussy willow were lifted off before the paper began to dry. A touch of pale pink was tapped into a few of the damp fuzzy shapes, at that point. Carefully adding just a bit of popcorn salt to some of the tips of the light shapes added a different texture, too.

Once the paper was dry, the stems and calyxes were added. One edge of the stems was lifted to give a sense of dimension. Makes a nice card to send to friends. 'Happy Spring' to all blogger friends north of the equator. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you today, Suzanne!

"HOPE FOR SPRING" Transparent Watercolor on 140# Arches, 5 x 7"

9 comments:

Jeanette Jobson said...

Lovely. This gives such a great impression of spring and the softness of the buds is wonderful.

I'm afraid I have awhile yet to wait until anything buds here.

Dawn said...

I love this painting. It is perfect. our pussy willows popped at the begining of Feb!

Christiane Kingsley said...

This painting is simple and yet so beautiful! It conveys so much in a few strokes. Well done!

Cindi said...

arent you clever.. waht a fun card, like you say, for friends...

happy spring to you.. hope its almost there...

Joan Sandford-Cook said...

The soft edged little catkins are a delight and such a pleasing colour. Started to worry you were poorly thinking it was ages since you posted, ie 3rd March but then remembered we in UK put our day before the month, and you out there the other way round!!! I'm daft as a brush!!! - lovely soft sable paint brush of course.

JANE MINTER said...

this is so very beautiful and delicate sandy ..they glow ...started snowing here again , happy spring .

DJ said...

Lovely texture in this painting!
So soft and inviting.

Suzanne McDermott said...

Sandy, I so appreciate the care you take with each painting and the time to describe the process. You are so generous and a great teacher. Happy Spring. Enjoy the longer daylight!

Debbie said...

Thanks for the instruction on how you got this feel Sandy... I have a beautiful photo of 'Bunny tails' that flower in our summertime and wasn't sure how to achieve that softness that you got.... I'm going to try this and see if it has the same appeal with my Bunny tails!!!!

Clever girl!!!!!