The house next door but one has the most amazing display of magnolia flowers at the moment, I couldn’t resist trying to paint them. I know I’ve done this subject before but my reference for that painting was a really good photograph I found on the internet. As well as being concerned I was breaching copyright I’ve always felt that it wasn’t my own work, it was someone else’s composition.
So this week I could be found lurked outside our neighbour’s house taking lots of photos of their tree before the flowers all fall (it’s been quite windy). I’ve discovered just how hard it is to get a good composition, especially with a tree that’s above my head height and has a house and other distractions right behind it.
Despite that, I’ve enjoyed isolating some flowers and transferring them to watercolour paper. Here is the first wash and a few pink petals – It’s a bit hard to see at this stage, but I hope you like the arrangement… it reminded me of an oriental pattern, maybe even wallpaper :-).