Andrew came home from work a little bit late on Monday. It was a good thing that I wasn’t in the kitchen, holding dinner off and waiting in frustration. He came through to where I was with this gorgeous bouquet in hand:
Of course, I was thrilled and asked him why he had bought them. He mentioned that he hadn’t given me anything to celebrate being published (in What Really Happened in Colonial Times) so he thought he would now. I must admit to feeling teary, even if I didn’t cry at the time. It was so lovely of him to do this!
A couple of days later, we remembered we had bought some small canvases to paint on during Floriade. Each year during this tulip festival, we draw a flower in our sketch books. The boys have done some stunning work in the past but it has always been in coloured pencil. We didn’t get around to making a drawing or a painting this year so guess what became our subject? It’s a bit sad, I know…
Anyway, here’s the photos of our paintings:
After doing this, I remembered why I don’t like painting. This flower was painted in six separate layers to build up the colour. I could have easily done a few more but we had all had a long enough spell on it by then…
Here’s Stevie’s:
He chose one of the flowers that were smaller. After a couple of days, the flowers had opened right out. They are fuller again today than when we painted them. The photos don’t capture the subtlety of colour in the paintings. Stevie has a lovely dark red edge on his petals.
Zac did the last one I am showing:
I had to help Zac with his as he had lost the outline of the flower through painting with a paint brush that was too big. He would tell you he’s never going to paint a flower again. That might be true but I think he’ll be happier to do one in coloured pencil from now on…
I judged that this task was too difficult for Adam. I was also trying to paint my own, give instruction to Stevie and Zac, help them dry off the layers between coats with a hair dryer and making sure Mark only painted his paper! Whew! Adam has painted a nice background sheet and I’ll try and sit down with him and we’ll work in coloured pencil – no, I haven’t been scarred by the painting experience!
Now, I am enjoying beautiful flowers from my husband and lovely paintings as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment