Paperwhite Narcissus

at least, that’s what they would be one day……
both my painting and the real plant….that is.

Right now… the plant is doing great, growing and changing everyday.
But my painting is struggling.
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Narcissus means Chinese New Years in my book.
Grandpa planted them in a flat rectangular blue ceremic pot filled with water and brightly colored stones.
He planted them at just the right time so they started to bloom couple days before Chinese New Year.
Different plants, same paperwhites, every Chinese New Year.

A sofa bed would be setup for me next to the big desk where the paperwhite sat. That’s where I slept everyday.
Then one morning, the plants would be gone. Water would be drained, too. Only these brightly colored stones and the blue cremic pot were left.

Then, and for the rest of the years, we had to go on without the smell of paperwhite everymorning. The pot and stones were hid away in a dark closet somewhere waiting for next Feburary to come around.
Couple weeks later, my winter break would be over, too. I would head back home with my parents. The sofa bed would be back to being a sofa in grandpa’s study.

Now, that is a page from my childhood.

As I am recounting all these details, I realized why it was nice being a kid.
Everything seemed so grand!! The big desk, the blooming flowers, and grandpa!

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Flowers and Gardens

Continuing to layer and starting to enjoy it more.

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I love tulips! We went to OSH this weekend to buy tulips seeds and planted them. I never knew that their seeds looked like baby onions! Now, we just sit and wait. In four monthes, if everything goes well, we will have tulips to wake up to in the mornings~ ***fingers crossed***

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On the verge of giving up…

Color blending has been kicking my butt….

Somehow it went from “need more water”, ” need more water”….to…”too much water!”, “everything smushed together”
I repeatedly missed the sweet pots!

What a mess!!
Plus, I have no patients for the colors to dry out.
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What have I learned from this one?
Wait longer for the background to dry. It also need more water to start with.
I know the tress branshes are done totally wrong. BUt I don’t know how to fix it.

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This one?
Wrong colors for all of the flowers!
Leave blanks for lights.
Doing something about those edges/better definitions for the pedals.

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Finished my first sketch book

I finished the first sketch book today!! Yay! It was a very thin one…I have to say.

Similar to the urge of being the first to walk and leave foot prints on fresh snow,
I couldn’t wait to paint on the new sketch book that is full of blank, pristine pages.

Instead of trying to paint an object and fail at it, I just played with the new brush tonight.

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and practiced control….

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and practiced layering washes…..

and failed miserably at it(buildings on the right)….
then got a little better at it (purple and green on the left)….
and FINALLY got it ( light blue in the middle)!!!

The layers could finally smoothly blend together….I even left space for windows without having them look too awkward.
The light, smooth and dreamy color even reminded me of, if I dare, those white and blue Mediterranean houses in Greek. :B
ANYWAY!!

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Iris

(trying out new brush) love the various colors and shapes of Iris….

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