Everyday joys

I have been in avoidance mode in the last few weeks (it's about 2 months actually! - I don't really know why, nothing in particular, maybe an accumulation of distractions and stresses, maybe I'm more tired than I would care to admit? I also have a stye that's stubbornly troubling my vision!). I can't seem to continue on the path I was on. So I'm trying other things. Rather than confront the problem straight on, I'm looking at other nudges, other things that have been catching my attention lately. The reality is that I live in the city, in the suburbs of Dublin. And I do love my life here. And I do notice all the beautiful little things that we spend most of our lives ignoring, like the song of a blackbird in the afternoon, the Spring light and shadows from the trees, the big bubbly clouds in the sky. None of it as dramatic as the Atlantic crashing on the West coast, but I'm appreciating these little daily joys all the same. And if I look at the photos on my phone, there's plenty that catches my eye, so why not try and paint some of it.

So, I started with cherry blossoms on cheap cartridge paper, buckling lots with the amount of water I use in my watercolours. It doesn't look quite so buckled in reality. Moved to heavy cartridge paper, more cherry blossoms from down the road on our afternoon walk. Third one is an attempt at shadows on the footpath. Didn't work out. But I really enjoyed painting the first two pieces, finding ways to express the pinkness of a cherry blossom at its peak!