JUNE 2020 (7)

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These beautiful studies are from Lesley M who has "an enormous Hosta bed outside the conservatory window" she says "here are a selection. The single leaf is the first I did, which looks ok from a distance but not so good close up. The second painting seemed like a good idea at the time but it's taken forever. The top left is the first of these, a Hosta called 'Fulda', I'd achieved a really good blue green and then couldn't reproduce it. The bottom left is next, this is a Hosta called 'Praying Hands' and is really twisted. The top right is a mini Hosta called 'Blue Mouse Ears' with 'Raspberry Ripple' beneath it and finally 'Joseph' a really dark glossy Hosta with wonderfully weird, asymmetric leaves.

I have now got a tiny sketchbook with masses of different shades of greens and what went into them. One of my books, which I only looked at after Hostas one and two, suggests making new greens from a pre-made green and I have to confess quite a lot of the various greens were made this way. I think one of my problems is that I haven't got a wide range of yellows so mixing from blue and yellow is harder."  

I think these are fabulous, and as with everything, Lesley is putting 100% effort into her botanical painting.  It really is a good idea to keep a record of the mixed colours we make but I am afraid few of us do.  I have many attempts at colour charts of tube colours, in various media, but very few of the colours I mix.  I suppose like many of us I am in too much of a rush to complete the painting but it really is a short sighted strategy.