Sunflowers

Whenever the cut sunflowers come into the stores in the late summer and fall, I can't resist buying a bunch or two. The flower heads are huge, the centres are dark velvety brown, the yellow petals are so silky, and surprisingly, they are really stinky, even after I cut the rotting stems off of them.  This year, I moved the vase of sunflowers onto my painting desk, and in the spirit of really studying them, I looked and took my time before I jumped into painting. Then, I held my nose and painted happily.

I also used a couple of little pieces of painting advice that I actually put into practice with these sunflowers. (thank you Jane Lafazio online) I allowed myself to draw in pencil before starting the ink lines, without falling into the trap of over erasing. And, as I painted, I tried to change the colour just a little each time I dipped onto my palette. I like the results.

I like to try new things and am pathologically sociable so  I decided to try one of  Jane Lafazio's online watercolour journal class. It is pretty cool to be able to connect with people anywhere, share painting ideas and get some expert comments from Jane to boot. We will see how it goes.

In the mean time, here are the sunflowers.

Losing my spelling mind! An extra "c" because I was overcome by the whiff.