A beautiful iris in the rain

I was walking home through the drizzling rain recently when I passed the most beautiful iris winking at me through the gloom. I took a photograph and have spent a couple of days painting it. I began with a simple watercolour of the flower and uploaded it to Photoshop where I doctored it a bit to look less natural but I think still pretty beautiful. That aside, the photograph itself is for me, also very special.

Spring Inspiration

I love to see the flowers spring up all over our village, it is so very beautiful at this time of year. I began buying flowers to paint but that turned out to be a little too expensive - and they often died before I finished my picture :( So I have now resorted to taking photographs of beautiful flowers I see in their natural state all around my village and Winterthur city. And then I paint them in the comfort of my own home at leisure. Here is my latest effort in watercolours. What inspires you at this time of year?

My first watercolour painting

I've taken on the task of teaching myself watercolours. Very tricky for me, being an artist far more comfortable with pastels and oil paints! So after a series of sketches, some better than others, I've produced my first painting which I am pretty proud of. Brütten Church, in Brütten where I live (10mins from Winti, up a very big hill) is very pretty and a prominent feature of the village, peeking out across the vista from miles around. I am planning a collection of pictures focusing on views of the church from many different viewpoints - some rather unusual! So please enjoy Brütten Kirche No.1 :)