Little things...

Hello!

It's Epi-time here in our garden. 
   [Epiphyllum]

Thanks to the many plants kindly given to us by one of my Sisters, quite a few years ago,  we're enjoying seeing these gorgeous flowers bloom in the early warmth of this month.

Their buds are quite beautiful and they last for quite a few weeks.

Once in bloom they are at their best for a short couple of days.

Here's another 3 and the previous two, which have now exhausted themselves,  can be seen in the far right. 
I'll leave them to hang around in that state because they eventually produce small round fruits which taste delicious.

I hope everyone's going along okay at this busy time of year.  

It's nice to be able to spend some early hours of the morning in the garden. 

Retirement definitely has its advantages :D) Cheers! 

Pink Abutilons ~ Happy PPF!

Hello!

More florals from me as my entry for Paint Party Friday:

'Birthday Abutilons'
watercolour, watercolour pencil, acrylic and inkpen on paper

I had a specific idea in mind - pink abutilons.  A birthday card for someone who happened to say she liked them.

.... and so it began:

I can sometimes get away with just taking paint to paper and being happy with the result but, this time, it wasn't happening.
So, after a few tries I felt I really needed to draw an outline first...



Out into the garden to take some reference photos... not pink but that's easily fixed ;D):

As it happened, cuttings of this orange Abutilon were given to me by the very person for whom I was painting the card!

Outline sketch done:

First soft layer of watercolour:

Once dry, then in with more watercolour and the watercolour pencils:

Using the heavy watercolour paper enables lots of wetting and drying without too much buckling or erosion problems:

Then some acrylic for the stamen - I had a bit of trouble with this part and that's where acrylic is great, with all the re-doing I'd built up a bit of texture too (can't really capture it in the photo).

Finally, some outlining with my inkpen - the part I enjoy the most!

Linking to Eva and Kristin's Paint Party Friday, where the happiest of artists gather... and everyone's welcome!