Alliteration: Shakespeare, sensuality

24 x 30, pastel on recycled Wallis

Where the bee sucks, there suck I;

In a cowslip's bell I lie;

There I couch when owls do cry.

On the bat's back I do fly

After summer merrily.

Merrily, merrily shall I live now

Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

William Shakespeare, The Tempest, 1610

More tulips

Tulips Two
40 x 27
watercolor on Fabriano Artistico

first and second paintings from same idea

I so enjoyed my first go with watercolor and white lines (white charcoal), I decided to do it again. While I am satisfied with the finished painting, I did not enjoy painting this piece. It felt like eating a sandwich on stale bread. Or drinking a pop when its gone flat or is warm. The freshness and thrill was gone. I just didn't realize it until I was part way through with the painting. Then, sheer determination took over and I finished it.

There is a big difference between Arches cold press paper (used in my first tulip painting) and Artistico Fabriano paper. The Arches paper lets the paint flow smoothly, like a dream. The Artistico was a bad dream. The paper absorbed the paint unevenly and was prone to blooms. I didn't like how my brushstrokes showed, too, on the Artistico.

Sometimes a good idea is only good for one painting. Sometimes it's good for many. Only time will tell if this is the former or the latter.

Trouble with tulips

Tulips
11 x 14
oil on canvas

detail of brushwork on the tulip petals

notice the small profiles on the tulips here in my start!

I love tulips! I love their simple shapes. I love their rich history. I love their Dutch-ness. I love how they reach and grow and stretch when they are cut and put in vases.

When I set up this still life, the tulips were partly opened, as you can tell from the lower photo, my start. As I painted them, the heat from the lamp made them open up and change position and importance. By the time I was finished painting today, the tulips were nearly twice their original size.

I love tulips. They add an interesting aspect to a painting, the not-so-still life.

Chalk it up to experience

I charged off and started in on this full sheet watercolor piece with an idea that I would try my hand at a technique I saw in International Artist Magazine. I spent hours on this, with very high hopes at a beautiful outcome. But, when push came to shove, it did not work out the way I wanted. So, chalk this one up to experience and move on. That's just what I'll do.

But, I have to say that I believe that no effort is truly wasted. Something good will come out of this. I just know it!

Overblown

Tulips

They drop their petals
like withered crones now.

But only last week,
they were modest, closed
simple blooms folded in
like young ladies
legs crossed properly.
Stems trimmed
they drink, thirsty
exuberant in their youth.

Each day they open
relaxing tight hold on
Gentility, deportment.
Growth unbends,
stems curve
seeking to drop down,
reach out.

Then they are wanton,
innermost parts fully exposed
pollen dripping, passion staining
petals yellow, sticky, wet
nothing hidden
translucent,
open, flat.

Now parched, wrinkled,
dropping petals
color faded
a somber death.