Karen over at BlueSkyDays365 is also on a creative journey with watercolours and prompted this post.
Having decided I’d like to paint I had hoped to join the local English art group, but like most things in life it’s not what you know it’s who you know. Apparently, according to a group member, it was ‘full’ so a ‘closed’ group. I could not even extract the contact details of the teacher to put my name down on a waiting list. Enough said.
So, you can imagine my absolute delight when many months later a friend of a friend told me an art teacher in the next village had a vacancy and she had put my name forward. I started last October and have not looked back since.
Although the class is mainly conducted in German with a little English thrown in, I love it. The women are really friendly and I immediately bonded with the group and teacher.
My first exercise was to draw flowers. Real flowers. The moment the teacher looked at me and said we draw flowers from ‘real life’ as they have ‘soul’, I knew I’d found the right teacher for me and some things are just meant to be!
My first lesson
A Osteospermum daisy picked fresh the garden the lesson began. How well could I draw before I started to paint.
After several weeks and many attempts, I managed to achieve this. Unfortunately, the other drawing I produced is still up on the wall in the studio so these two examples will need to suffice.
My next challenge
Live daisies with soul.
This was tough!
I decided to go abstract. Choose my own colours and go with my own composition.
I painted a rough outline of the pot and flowers, then using watercolours I painted the daisies and started to create the background. It is amazing how much can be achieved using paint, adding more water to the paint once on the page, then dabbing with a rag or tissue to create texture and depth.
and finally
Crazy Daisies
After a month’s break, I am back at the class, have started a new project and am already planning my next.
Piglet in Portugal 
Love this! These look amazing! I just started a new blog dedicated to trying out all kinds of new hobbies and documenting the process. Check it out!!
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Ah, African daisies. They are an old classic with new cultivars that were introduced during the past few years.
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Thanks, Tony. Their name escaped me. When I first came to Portugal I thought they were weeds as they grew everywhere without any TLC. Even in the wild
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Oh, they may have naturalized. When the more colorful and shrubbier types became available, some were hesitant to grow them because they were identified with freeway landscapes. Their genus name is Osteospermum. Those that used to grow on freeways, which might be more similar to what your are, is Osteospermum fruticosum. The shrubbier types that were only rarely available back then, that are more like the modern cultivars, were Osteospermum ecklonis. Many of the modern cultivars are unidentified hybrids that are known merely by their cultivar names.
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Glad the universe opened up the welcoming art group for you! Love the daisies. The painting looks like a lot of fun. -Rebecca
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You’re very talented Carole, the flowers look gorgeous. So wonderful that you managed to get into an art group where you feel comfortable.
I used to have an art group when I lived in Portugal and we would do all sorts of crafts, but haven’t found anything similar here so I’ve stopped crafting and painting which I miss.
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Gorgeous. You are gifted with creativity.
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Oh well done, I love your crazy daisies. I would love to be able to paint and now and then I try flower painting but I am always dissatisfied with the results. What a good idea to find a good teacher and a supportive group.
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My painting tends to be rather abstract when trying to interpret flowers. I like being part of a group (Even if I don’t speak GErman) because art speaks the same language
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Wow this is really great, Carole! Truly you are talented. I’m so glad that you found an art group where you’re happy.
Rumi has a wonderful quote you may like on creativity: “If joy could talk this is what she would say, it was love that gave birth to me.”
Blessings to you Carole. Thanks for sharing!
Debbie
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Very nice. The drawing is great, as is the finished painting. I took some art classes years ago. There are times I’d like to pick it up again… Keep at it and keep having fun š
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If you are OK at painting but can’t draw (like me) then download the AR-Lucida app on your tablet or phone. You may have to invest in a clamp to hold the device above the paper/canvas but it allows you to “project” a photo on the paper so that you can draw the outline.
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One of my sons bought me some paints for Christmas, so think I will also have a painting session š If the wind does not destroy the daffodils may have a go at painting those.
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Love it.
I’d be very proud if I’d painted that.
I shopped for supplies yesterday and should have time this weekend to do some more painting.
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