Some of my favourite things

I can't think of many things I'd rather be doing on a sunny Sunday afternoon than sitting in the garden painting! Definitely two of my favourite things. Inspiration can come from simple things too.

Laura gave me these wooden panels because she loves to paint on them but I'd never tried them before today. They are a bit tricky to get the hang of but I love how they've turned out.

I gave each panel a couple of coats of white gesso and then painted the fruit and veg with artists' acrylics.

It was a good try out for some of the new paintbrushes I bought recently. They were a job lot and I never thought I'd use the really tiny ones but these panels are only 3 inches wide so I needed small brushes for the detail. The paintings will keep company with the quilted botanical drawings I finished recently for our stand at Festival of Quilts. I think it makes a display more interesting to see the same subject interpreted with different media and a change of scale.

I walked around the garden while the paint was drying and couldn't resist photographing this red cabbage. The colours are gorgeous and the bloom on the leaves makes them look almost like velvet. I've often painted cabbages over the years, usually in watercolour rather than acrylics. I'm not sure if they are everyone's idea of a suitable subject for a painting though. In the old days of cameras with film I got very strange looks from the processing people when everyone else was collecting photos of their holidays and their children and I had a whole film showing rows of cabbages!

The lilies are still looking fantastic although I must learn to admire them from a distance -  it has taken 3 washes to get the pollen from this beauty off a new top of mine! These flowers would make great subjects for a painting but I may be less predictable and go for a different kind of flower!!

I wonder if I can be quick enough to paint it before we want to eat it!

I hope you can enjoy small pleasures like me!

Bye for now,
Linda