Painting in The Parterre Garden

The Parterre Garden is so beautiful right now! I started this painting last night- I was hoping to finish today- but it has gotten chilly all of a sudden! Such is the life of the tulip painter!

The 2010 Tulip Festival poster

This is the 2010 Thansgiving Point Tulip Festival poster, for sale at the garden gift shop. It is 11 X 17 on card stock. I think it turned out really cute... and you can't beat the price! Come find me at the gardens and I will be happy to sign yours.

I painted this in the Secret Garden, it is called "Cherub's Secrets"

click here to see me painting it

Painting in The Children's Garden

On Tuesday, I found myself in the Children's Garden painting, it is such a wonderful place. The gardens are beautiful, there are mazes made of shrubs, a pond, a bear cave, dozens of bronze animals and they all have footprints in the concrete that lead back to an incredible sculpture of Noah's Ark. (As it gets warmer, there are fun water features in the garden for children to play in) I found the perfect place to sit, so that there are tulips in the foreground, and Noah and his Ark in the background- I am really excited about this painting!

My daughter stopped by for a minute to offer her help with my painting- then quickly went back to play in the big sandbox in the garden.

Yellow, Purple and Ruby

Another great day at the Tulip Festival. A man asked me, "Which do you love more, the thing you are looking at or the thing you are holding?" I replied, "The one in my arms, but how lovely it is to have both."

Painting at the Tulip Festival last Saturday

The above photo ran in the Salt Lake Tribune (photo by Jim Urquhart)

The Tulip Festival started last Friday. It is truly beautiful out there. Saturday was a wonderful day, the weather was great and there are so many tulips. I made it into yesterday's Daily Herald and The Salt Lake Tribune. I had a great time painting, and I am so excited to get out there and paint today.

Spring is in the air!

The daffodils are up, and the tulips are not far behind! I am so excited about the Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival this year! It starts this Friday (this year they will kick things off with a live broadcast from Fox 13 with Big Budah - my segment with him will be at 8 am)

I think this will be one of the best festivals yet!

If you would like to tip toe/run through the gardens, they are having a half marathon and kids run this year!

A closer look at my painting process

I don't always use the same approach when I paint, I like to experiment, but here is a closer look at one of the variations I love to use. First, I apply paint in a bold and fairly abstract manner... (my subject: the patch of tulips in the distance, just to the left of my easel)

... next, I'll get out a piece of vine charcoal and draw on my painting, tightening it up a bit. I fix that drawing on (with fixative or hair spray) then I continue with oil paint, but still allow the process to come through (I let some of that first more abstract paint to show through as well as the charcoal drawing)

and here is the finished painting.

In a couple of weeks, scenes like this will be plenty!

The Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival begins April 16th and goes through May 1st.

I will have an exhibit there of paintings I have produced in the gardens during the festival over the past 5 years.

People always ask me when the best time would be to come, I recommend getting a membership and coming as many times as you can.

The tulips are coming up!

Yesterday we went out to Thanksgiving Point, and the tulips will definitely be in full bloom for the Tulip Festival this year. I am definitely getting excited!

(This is the finished painting of The Italian Garden from a couple posts ago.)

Orchids for Danna

My sister -in -law Danna is so supportive of me and my art and I appreciate her so much. She has many talents, one of them is cultivating orchids, so I thought it would be fitting to paint some orchids for her.

More red tulips

I painted this last week.

I really never could get tired of painting red tulips.

I do enjoy painting other things, but there is something about painting red tulips that seems to center me.

Chad Hedrick

Back in 2007, I was pregnant with my first daughter, painting at The Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival when along came Chad Hedrick! I was a volunteer during the 2002 Olympics and I was able to watch some of the speed skating. Chad said he spends a lot of time in the Netherlands skating, so he loves tulips too. It was so fun to watch him get a bronze medal last night.

These pictures are getting me excited for the tulip festival!

April Blooms

We have had a few warm days and it gets me excited because it means that the tulips will be coming.

Hogle Zoo World of the Wild Art Exhibit

We love going to Hogle Zoo. My brother and his wife gave us a pass and encouraged me to enter their annual art exhibit, and my painting made it in. The show opened last night and will be up until March 14th. I have been amazed at how fun our zoo visits have been during these colder months, definitely worth braving the elements... plus there is a great art exhibit to see!

Blooms

Whenever I travel to New York City, I always like to visit my favorite flower shop, Bloom. I love it because they have many of the flowers arranged by color, a vintage dresser covered with vases full of red flowers, a seating area surrounded by all white flowers. I love the way it feels to be there. My Mom was a florist when I was a little girl. I was a florist in college, and so for many reasons, I love this shop.

Once, I visited in a December, and I was just taking it all in and a man noticed me looking at this vase full of red tulips, I didn't notice him until he came up to me and gave me a simple tulip he had purchased for me from the arrangement that I had been admiring. He said he didn't need to know my name, just saw that he could do something kind for someone and did it, then he walked away.

I have thought often about this kind act.

When I got married, I made my bouquet look like that arrangement I was admiring. I painted this painting of the arrangement there at Bloom.

Last Friday, I got an award for this painting at a show.

red tulips - watercolor

12 x 12 watercolor on Arches (hot press)

A couple of weeks ago my husband gave me red tulips to celebrate the 5 year anniversary of our first date... and a very blind date at that!