Tulips in the blue jug.

Watercolour & Gouache 35 x 35 cm

I love a gift of flowers and the beautiful yellow tulips we received on HWEM's birthday had to be painted.  They say yellow flowers are the most difficult to capture and you'll get no argument from me.  

This a piece of Khadi Indian cotton rag handmade paper.  It isn't a great ground for transparent watercolour as the size repels the moisture and the surface quickly breaks down with scrubbing but it loves thick creamy gouache, which I introduced at the end.

Fallen Tulip

Fallen Tulip - 18 x 24cm Watercolour - Clairefontaine Sketchbook

One of the red tulips in the garden was broken off overnight so I put off the dreaded weeding to paint it this morning. It reminded me of a girl in a red satin dress who had danced too long at the ball and finally collapsed.

Red Shine Lily-flowered Tulips still standing

This is the first year I've planted tulips and I can't bring myself to cut them for the house or for art. I just take endless photographs when, in fact, I should be sketching and painting them.

I haven't been at all diligent about keeping up my Garden Journal sketchbook, but everything is photographed as it blooms. The other day I decided to start a new blog Our Tuscan Garden as a place to post these photos and tell the story of our experience making a garden in Tuscany.

I was very pleased that the title was available and very distressed when Blogger shortly after locked me out of my new blog. Days later the powers that be at Blogger have had time to check and have decided it isn't all spam.

The story begins at the beginning so it's going to take quite a few posts to bring our garden story up to the present day. I will continue to post my paintings from the garden here as well as on the other blog.

Now I really must get stuck into the weeding!

First Tulips

Watercolour Pencil & background wash 15 x 15 cms

I'll always associate tulips with our friends Jani and Louis. This is from yet another beautiful bunch they've given us. I've been sketching and photographing them all week.

The first big pencil sketch was a disaster so I decided to try a detail in watercolour pencil. This Cartiera Magnani drawing paper quickly started to scuff under the sharp pencils so I knew I wasn't going to be able to build up a multi-layered dark pencil background. I used a neutral tint watercolour wash instead, so I guess this is now mixed media.

The tulip bulbs we've planted are now coming up in the garden. I love this time of year, so full of promise.

Working in the Garden

As HWEM stomps back and forth in his filthy gumboots, trekking compost and honest sweat through the house, he is occasionally heard to mutter - 'bout time you did some work in the garden'.

So here I am 'working' in the garden!


Every now and then I have to stop to consult my Muse.


I'm still trying to keep up with the plants as they bloom.


I wasn't quick enough for the Iris, so I had to rely on the photo I took. There's more on the way, so I will try for a looser watercolour version of those.

Tulips from Louis