Painting a wish ( Dandelions)

After listening to me moaning on for weeks about the constant rain, today , at last we have some beautiful sunshine, I have just had coffee with my dear friend

at a local garden centre and marvelled at the glorious Mid Devon view....

As I sat waiting , I looked around me, relaxed, happy and hopeful, well my coffee was on it's way. 

This is life , I thought, not striving to go to exotic places or waiting for the next big thing , life is in the here and now, and taking joy when it arrives. I can get anxious worrying about life, my kids, my health, the world, but actually life is a series of moments, and when a good one comes along , I need to wallow in it. Enjoy it for what it is, and not yearn anxiously for the next one, it will come along when it's ready, and perhaps when I least expect it 

 Some of you may be new to my blogs, and may be new to me. I am a watercolour painter and I live and work from my little cottage in rural Mid Devon.

I am very lucky to have a studio in my garden at the back of the house, it even has a wood burning stove for chillier days.

This is the view from the studio, our garden is certainly not manicured, but loose and full of wild corners.

 So there are plenty of dandelions

 

Dandelion clocks have always fascinated me, amazingly intricate seed heads, very beautiful, and yet hated by so many. Blowing them as youngsters to see what time it is. Now my husband is waging a long standing war with them in our lawn, trying to remove them before they set seed. We both know the dandelions will win, and why not, they provide food for the bees, and they are so pretty.

Anyway on to the painting , firstly I draw the dandelion clock.

Then I carefully paint in the detail of the seed head. I also paint the seeds, giving as much detail as I can , using yellow ochre and burnt umber.

I move around the dandelion.

Then the small leaves and the stem.

The contrast between lights and darks makes the painting 'pop' .

Now to get out the masking fluid and a paper clip. I use an un wound paperclip to apply very thin lines of masking fluid to represent the dandelion seeds.

Then let that dry

While it is drying I can paint some dandelion leaves.

And a couple of bees.

Now to go in with the indigo, be fast and loose and spontaneous, let the paint move around but get darkest around the white seeds, so that they stand out.

Then add some cling film or food wrap as I think it's called in the states. leave the whole thing to dry.

 

So when it is completely dry, overnight is best. Remove the cling film

 

Make sure everything is as you like, maybe touch up some areas if you like and then rub off the masking fluid 

 

And voila another dandelion clock to populate the lawn !

I do hope you are all doing ok, sending healing thoughts and lots of love to anyone who might need them today x