Leaves, Any kind of leaf gives me trouble, especially with edges and vein lines. This was one of the very first watercolor paintings I completed on spring break in my step-by-step paint-on-page watercolor book, the equivalent of a bicycle with training wheels. I look at this and the logo above and of course the nature lover in me remembers sitting at a picnic table on a campsite by the creek that runs to the pond full of water lilies and frogs at FDR State Park in Georgia. It seems like a lifetime ago, and here we are at the end of May. And then my eyes trail to the veins in this leaf that looks more like a molded croissant or a fortune cookie than a lily pad.
But I can appreciate it. After looking at hundreds of watercolor paintings during this time and learning a little more of the blending techniques, I can see some growth even just in how I hold the brush now compared to two months ago. I’ve been watching my writing friend Susie Morice as she tries a new paper and is moving all to one kind of watercolor paint. My friend Glenda took a class and can paint flowers like a pro now. My friend Margaret Simon is in a class and could illustrate her next book. And my daughters are both painting again, too ~ one sent me a peach from her morning painting yesterday, and it warmed my heart…..my firstborn, born a Georgia Peach in Savannah, now living out west and painting a peach. She went to art school years ago and does all kinds of art. She told me that watercolor was less forgiving than any other kind of painting, and I can feel it. She also told me that when I painted a fern on a notecard and messed up two of the leaves, I could paint a caterpillar over it.
I wonder what she would say about a moldy croissant trying to look like a lily pad……
Watercolor Waterlily
Neverland tales of
Princess Water Lily drift
into adulthood
….or was it Tiger Lily?
I’m too old to remember
Common Threads 