Garden to Studio

Today, on a cold and windy January afternoon, I thought that you might like to dream of spring, get a few gardening tips, and glimpse into how I decide what to paint.
My garden is my “palette.” Throughout early spring and into summer, I constantly “redecorate” my plantings. I try to extend masses of color by dividing and spreading perennials for maximum color “punch.”
In order to decide what to paint, I look for blossoms that are fresh and newly opened, photographing them from many angles. In early spring, a great variety of tulips are blooming.
 You can see one patch of my garden where I selected the yellow parrot tulip that I finally decided to paint. What attracted my eye to the tulip I chose was the vivid contrast of the red stripes with the yellow petals, the green of the leaves, the shadows, and the shapes of the petals.
You can see from the resulting watercolor “Yellow Tulip,” that Georgia O’Keeffe’s work continues to have a major influence on my painting!

                             Yellow Parrot Tulip Flower Original Watercolor Art