Color My World

 At the risk of sounding like a broken record... I've got to say, I am so happy that Spring is here.  

Each day my eyes open before dawn and I am filled with anticipation. Every inch of the farm is teeming with new life and I am like a kid in a candy store.

Aside from the sunshine and warmer temperatures, I am astonished by the amount of color that has returned to the land!  And, amazingly, it is only just getting started!

Farm fields are purple and green patchwork.

Carpets of tiny birds-eye speedwell have appeared where, a month ago, the ground was barren.

Violets turn their smiling faces upwards towards the sun, their cheerful blossoms appearing almost overnight.

Our flowering quince is ready to unfurl it's fiery persimmon buds.

The forsythia, twice as tall as me, is in full regalia.

Even the stream flowing out of the old log cabin basement is oozing with plant life....green algae.  What a color! 

How amazing and beautiful is this planet that we call home.  How could one not want to protect its abundant life?

I've been gardening, and weeding, and puttering around the landscape from morning til evening.  It's glorious!

As I snap photos of Spring's offerings, I've been inspired to try to watercolor paint some of what I see.  I've been trying to set aside a couple hours each day for practicing techniques.  Some days I feel like I'm improving, but, most importantly, I am having fun.

Yesterday I took this photo of blossoms on a peach tree that came up from seed at the edge of the woods next to our house.  I took it with the intention of trying to paint what I saw.

Here is my interpretation....

I've been following along with some great YouTube video tutorials.  If you are interested, I found this source(link) to be excellent.  Here is one of her (free) classes that I tried...

and another....

It's easier than you might think!

If you've been following along for any time, you might know that I have a fungi fascination.  I can hardly wait to paint what I find in the woods.  Here was a little practice, painting from photos on the internet...

A few of my farm friends have expressed an interest in giving this a try.  If you are searching for a good and inexpensive paint tray, I suggest you try this one.  (MIYA 36 color watercolor tray - I found it on Amazon).  It was recommended in one of the videos that I watched.  The paints are quite vibrant and the price point is great.  I have been using tubes of watercolor paint and doing a lot of color mixing.  This tray makes the whole process much easier!