Wednesday 2 March 2016

Tropical Flower Whimsy


I decided to start with my painting this week. This is a watercolour painting of Angel's Trumpet Flowers. I decided to use complimentary colours for the background,
hope you like the effect.

 
"Angel's Trumpets"


 
It is painted almost exclusively using transparent watercolours. I made up a palette for myself that contains only transparent watercolours but then a little bit of Cadmium Yellow and New Gamboge snuck in (not transparent); a watercolour palette malfunction?
 
The background isn't exactly complimentary because it uses colours through the purple-blue-blue green spectrum. I had a lot of fun dropping paint, spraying and then pouring some darker pigments to create the background. I like the effect, I hope you do too.
 
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Angel's Trumpet also called a Brugmansia (pictured below) it is "a genus of seven species of flowering plants in the family Solanaceae.
 Their large, fragrant flowers give them their common name of angel's trumpets, a name sometimes used for the closely related genus Datura. Brugmansia are woody trees or shrubs, with pendulous, not erect, flowers, that have no spines on their fruit." Wikipedia
 
 
 
 
A close up of the Angel's Trumpet flowers: 
 
 
 
Here are a few more tropical flowers.
 
Bougainvelia are abundant in Hawaii:
 
 
A Plumeria bloom fallen between lava rocks.
 
 
"Plumeria is the most common flower that you'll find in Hawaii since it is used in most leis that are given to visitors. It is, however, not native to Hawaii. It is native to tropical and subtropical America. It was named for the 17th century French botanist Charles Plumier who documented numerous plants in the Americas."
 
The flowers are most popular in Hawaii, used to make flower necklaces (leis). http://www.floraexotica.ca/Flower-Plumeria.htm


Alamanda:
 



 
Hibiscus are seen in a wide range of colours:

 
A time lapse video of a hibiscus blooming:
 
 
 
 
This one is pretty but I have no idea what it is, can anyone tell me?
 
 
 
 
Here is a music video for you:
 
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
 
 
 
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Well it is almost spring and I have had a busy week tidying and organizing my paintings. I either need to stop painting or...
 
Time for a SALE!
 
To view the paintings and sale prices follow this link:
 
 
That's all for this week,
 
thanks for dropping by, I appreciate your feedback,
 
 happy Wednesday, with whimsy,
 
Gillian