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.

Robins - watercolour on gold ground

Robins - 18 x 18cms

transparent watercolour on gold acrylic ground

Exploring abstraction and still obsessed with gold grounds.  Finally settled on a combination of abstract and figurative styles for this favourite subject.  The presence of robins in our grey garden at this time of year is such a joy.

I decided to limit myself to transparent watercolour for this painting but I'm really missing a touch of white gouache.  Sometimes just putting a painting up on my blog gives me enough distance to decide if it's working. Perhaps you can help me decide?  The scan doesn't do justice to the richness of the gold shining through the transparent colour.

Granada Gouache

Granada - 33 x 35cm gouache on Khadi paper

Some of my favourite things about Granada.  

I didn't actually see a Song Thrush in Granada but there was what looks like a tiny one on a beautiful tin of Pimenton Picante that I had to have.  We have thrushes in the garden here in Tuscany at the moment but they refuse to sit and pose for me.  I owe the reference for this little fellow to the generosity of photographer Dick Daniels - Birds of The World - An Online Bird Book.