Pretty dancing Columbine

It's funny how the names for these girls just pop into my head. It's almost like they whisper them to me.

The title for this post is a line from a poem I can still remember learning when I was a little girl. By Cicely Mary Barker it tells the story of the flower fairy who loved to dance in her pretty little dress.
I learnt so many of those poems off by heart!

Well, anyway, here is my entry for the second week of Summer of Colour - pinks and orange. This particular Columbine has arrived at the ball with bouquet of flowers for her beau. He will probably bring her beer - they are a thoroughly modern couple!

I'm playing!

I have been going through a crisis of confidence lately. I lost my flow. Words, paint, even emotions - everything was blocked. A niggling voice buried in the depths of me kept trying to convince me to just start something, to get my fingers working, but I refused to listen. Instead, I've been burying my head in books, sleeping too much and time-wasting on Facebook (you know the kind of thing... quizzes to see what bird you were in a previous life or your hippy name...).

Something shifted in the last week or so though and I braved a few blog posts, then I picked up a paintbrush. I'd been reading a book on watercolour techniques (this one) and I was ready to play.

I started painting a series of girls which, if you clicked on the link to see the book, might surprise you since it was about how to paint landscapes! Each one requires a great deal of drying time in between layers so I have ended up with around half a dozen of them on the go. Then, on Instagram I spotted a post from Kristin announcing the start of the 2015 Summer of Colour and I knew I had to be in! So, I grabbed a couple of blues and a green and painted this one. She's my favourite so far!

I've named her Flo - because she helped me find my own flow again. Thanks Flo and thanks Kristin!