Under African Skys

A small group of African elephants find some shelter under a lone tree in the African midday heat.

I googled elephant images to find the subject matter.It then took me four days to paint it slowly.

It is now with Sallyanne in Castleford as thats her fav animals.

I spent hours looking at it.It works but i dont know why.I guess you just enjoy the ones that work, and learn from the ones that dont.

The Orchid

This again was taken from a photo.The first time i had ever seen an orchid as a flower present in the hospital.I asked the lady if i could photograph it, and that it would make the garden blog.Little did i know how orchid madness grips you.

I have done google research, bought two books, and now have three orchid bulbs growing.

It was done in Acrylic paint, trying to capture the beauty of the pink flowers with the magical yellow centres.The white roots are visible on top of the bark medium. The green leaves were fat and waxy.I loved the tendrils gripping the canes and rising upwards to the beautiful flowers.

I want to paint more Orchids, but would like them from still life.

Dutch Tulips

This was taken from a photo at work.Some gorgeous delicate Red dutch tulips in a glass vase surrounded by green/yellow wrapping.

It was my first attempt at using Acrylic paints.The view was looking down to see the yellow centres like egg yolks or gold treasure.

The pollen stalks were a lovely deep purple, and the stamen were little white stars.