The weather here has been lovely recently and last weekend I was able to spend hours in the garden tidying up after winter. Lots of weeding got done and I began pruning the citrus trees. The mandarin has worked so hard this year with such an enormous crop that it’s looking exhausted and has lots of bare branches and leaves dropping. I’m hoping that a bit of careful thinning will give it some extra energy… mind you, I’m no expert on fruit trees so I hope I’m doing the right thing! All the trees got a good feed as well 🙂 .
All the while I was outside there was a gentle humming of bees buzzing around on my neighbour’s Ornamental Plum trees, which are right along our fence line… and every now and then the breeze would send a confetti of pink petals floating across the garden. The blossom doesn’t last very long but it’s spectacular while it’s there and the bees love it.
I tried painting the blossom last year as well and was quite pleased with the result so I’ve been itching for Spring to come so I could have another go. Last year’s attempt was all pink but I’m keen to work on my darks at the moment so I’ve used several colours in the first wash, which I’ll build on to suggest the foliage of the garden behind the these trees. So far I’ve used Rose Madder, Sap Green, Indigo, Cobalt Blue and Indian Yellow.
I’m still uneasy building up background washes, especially trying to get deep colours, so it’ll be interesting to see how this works out. I think generally I try and get too much into the first wash and then end up with mud or something too heavy to build upon. But this one has started off nice and delicate, so thumbs up so far!