Nasturtiums! (And Day 18 of 30 Days 30 Paintings Which Isn't)

It seems as if I'm falling more and more in love with nasturtiums.

nasturtiums, garden flowers, summer flowers, orange flowers, Anne Butera, My Giant Strawberry

I know, I know... how many times do I really need to say how lovely they are. How cheerful, how JOYful, how colorful.

nasturtiums, milkmaid nasturtiums, white nasturtiums, Anne Butera, My Giant Strawberry

These Milkmaid Nasturtiums are delightful. I made a rebel bouquet of them and some Incense Peach Sweet Peas this week.

sweet peas, nasturtiums, pink and yellow, flower arrangements, milk glass vase, Anne Butera, My Giant Strawberry

Why is it a rebel bouquet, you might be asking. Pink and pale yellow aren't really September colors, are they? They're not end of summer colors. They're spring and early summer colors. That's me. Living on the wild side.

Nasturtiums do end of summer very well.

nasturtiums, orange nasturtiums, Anne Butera, My Giant Strawberry

Their colors verge on autumnal.

There are so many different colors and varieties. Last year I just painted orange ones. This year I wanted to paint a bouquet to celebrate all the different colors and shapes.

nasturtiums, watercolor nasturtiums, nasturtium bouquet, watercolor bouquet, floral watercolor, Anne Butera, My Giant Strawberry

While I was working on this, I realized that painting this would have scared me to death two years ago. Maybe even a year ago. Too many overlapping bits. The more I paint, the more comfortable I feel challenging myself with more complicated compositions. It feels good.

It feels good, too, to get obsessed with a subject.

watercolor nasturtiums, lino cut nasturtiums, nasturtium art, Anne Butera, My Giant Strawberry

It had been a while since I'd done any linocutting and I realized that I missed it. I imagine doing a mirror image block and printing them together. And I really wanted to try printing white on black, but I have no white block printing ink.

nasturtiums, nasturtium art, linocut, linoprint, Anne Butera, My Giant Strawberry

My attempt to use paint instead of ink failed miserably for a number of reasons and yet, I still kind of like it.

I've been playing around with another type of art to create yet more nasturtiums. I was hoping to have finished more to show, but I'm still not happy with the bits I've been working on. They need more work. For now I'll just share the beginnings of my experimentation:

nasturtiums, nasturtium pattern, Anne Butera, My Giant Strawberry

a very simple repeat pattern done in Illustrator. Such a learning curve. Frustrating and fun at the same time.

I was not in the groove with today's painting. My first inclination was to do another nasturtium, but I wouldn't let myself and chose to paint sweet peas instead.

sweet peas, watercolor sweet peas, botanical watercolor, watercolor flowers, Anne Butera, My Giant Strawberry

Maybe that's a lesson to go with my first inclination? Or maybe I need to take away the fact that it's ok to have bad days.

I hope you're having a good one!

Comments

  1. Anne you are such a talented multi-faceted artist! All your perseverance over the last few years has really paid off. I like your rebel vase too. Now it is Autumn I want it to be spring too. I am such an old fusspot! Have a lovely weekend!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Simone! Like you I have many interests. There are so many fun things to do and try!

      I wouldn't say you're a fusspot! And I don't really think I want it to be spring again. I just want the nice weather to last a little longer.

      Hope you're having a lovely weekend, too, and enjoying some beautiful weather!

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  2. That bunch of watercolored nasturtiums...so gorgeous! Will you be making prints of it for your etsy shop???
    Love the lino too, and I'm wondering if your "illustrator" image may end up over at Spoonflower?
    xo

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Karen! I do plan on making some prints of the painting. Just gotta switch gears and get into that mindset. And yes, eventually I'll be uploading prints to Spoonflower. Not sure if that one will make the cut, but we'll see!
      :)

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