How to paint flowers - video tutorials

Every year, in springtime I make lots of photos of flowers, for my paintings. As I had too many of them, I gathered them in flower videos and so, surfing on YouTube, I reviewed Marjorie Harris's flower painting videos.
Marjorie Harris is a very talented artist and teacher whom I admire very much. I love her video tutorial where she shares her freehanding method of painting flowers.
She makes painting roses look so easy but it is only simple for talented artists like her.
Here is one of these very instructive tutorials. I hope you will enjoy it the way I do.

You may want to have a look at Marjorie Harris's website too.
And now, my favorite, from artist Maneco Araujo:

Another amazing one from Singapore Artist Ng Woon Lam:

See also my rose drawing lesson: how to draw a rose in five steps.

Read more >>

Hand painted Easter eggs - Easter wetting

From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth, new life, in most cultures.
The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians.
Starting with Holy Thursday, people start painting Easter eggs in a multitude of colors.
These are my blown eggs (created by piercing the shell with a needle and blowing out the contents).

Transylvania has a mixed population.
Due to the differences between the western churches and the Eastern Orthodox Churches some of us celebrate Easter twice each year, one after the other. The former now use the Gregorian calendar to calculate the date of Easter, while the latter still use the original Julian calendar.

These eggs are just for fun, there is nothing left inside them.
That's why I shall dye some Easter eggs with onion skins too, the good, old, natural dye.

If you would like to try to hand-paint your Easter eggs, have a look at theses simple egg painting models and coloring pages.

Easter wetting.

In Transylvania, there is a tradition called "the wetting", a popular pastime throughout the region.
Every year, on Easter Monday, the boys, armed with buckets of water are waiting for the girls to come out of their houses. As soon as they appeared, the boys wet them with water. The girls reward the boys who had wet them by giving them the most beautiful decorated Easter eggs and cake.

Today, this tradition is practiced with more gentility. Boys in the city use perfume to sprinkle on the girls' heads on Easter Monday.
I wish you and your families

HAPPY EASTER!

Read more >>