Wednesday 5 September 2012

Delft Blue : Delphiniums



 

Working in my garden enjoying the last of this years warm sunshine , I observed the various hues of blue in the late flowering delphiniums in one flower bed.  Its' quite amazing that they are putting on such a wonderful display as the plants themselves were discovered on a sale section of a garden centre.They looked poor in condition and ready for a compost heap. But the pots  were large and  we took a risk by buying them. Planting almost dead looking species throughout our  cottage  flower beds we didn't really expect much of them this year, if anything at all next year. However, we have been rewarded with a gorgeous display of late flowering delphiniums in beautiful hues of blue. As I took my easel  outside to work in sunshine on a gallery show piece I soon became distracted and allowed colour to flow and form floral  shapes in an abstract manner.

 


I learn from these relaxing experiments. I love how without my help petals are forming as individual flower shapes are created by pigment and water interaction as in this favourite section.




I have only used two colours in this piece and will decide on whether to add further detail later.For now I am simply enjoying watching paint dry in sunshine. What a great job I have!

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I have also leanerd quite a lot from those dead looking plants,tips you may find useful.

1) Never give up on anything as it may reward you later on.

2) Have patience! Waiting for these flowers to bloom has really been worth it. 

3) Beauty isn't always instant!

1 comment:

Billie Crain said...

Delphiniums are one of my favorite flowers. I love the iridescense of their petals and somehow you managed to capture that. Have you tried Daniel Smith's Duochrome Hibiscus yet? It's one of their speciality colors that does fantastic things for delphinium petals.