Cinderella the coy

Cinders is looking a little coy. Little minx knows she's impressed Mr Charming but thought she might pretend for a while that she hadn't noticed him yet - keep him keen you know. Plus she's still figuring out how to dance in shoes made of glass so for now she's content to just swish her skirts about a bit.

She'd better not leave it too long though - I'm at the ball too and have my eye on that Prince for myself. He's pretty easy on the eye it has to be said, got a touch of the Ross Poldark's about him...

Cinderella is for Summer of Colour - this week we're using a palette of two shades of purple and a yellow. I'm wearing lime green. I think the Prince prefers it, for now it seems he has forgotten the girl with the blonde hair, lilac dress and uncomfortable footwear and is heading in my direction!

Pretty dancing Columbine

It's funny how the names for these girls just pop into my head. It's almost like they whisper them to me.

The title for this post is a line from a poem I can still remember learning when I was a little girl. By Cicely Mary Barker it tells the story of the flower fairy who loved to dance in her pretty little dress.
I learnt so many of those poems off by heart!

Well, anyway, here is my entry for the second week of Summer of Colour - pinks and orange. This particular Columbine has arrived at the ball with bouquet of flowers for her beau. He will probably bring her beer - they are a thoroughly modern couple!

I'm playing!

I have been going through a crisis of confidence lately. I lost my flow. Words, paint, even emotions - everything was blocked. A niggling voice buried in the depths of me kept trying to convince me to just start something, to get my fingers working, but I refused to listen. Instead, I've been burying my head in books, sleeping too much and time-wasting on Facebook (you know the kind of thing... quizzes to see what bird you were in a previous life or your hippy name...).

Something shifted in the last week or so though and I braved a few blog posts, then I picked up a paintbrush. I'd been reading a book on watercolour techniques (this one) and I was ready to play.

I started painting a series of girls which, if you clicked on the link to see the book, might surprise you since it was about how to paint landscapes! Each one requires a great deal of drying time in between layers so I have ended up with around half a dozen of them on the go. Then, on Instagram I spotted a post from Kristin announcing the start of the 2015 Summer of Colour and I knew I had to be in! So, I grabbed a couple of blues and a green and painted this one. She's my favourite so far!

I've named her Flo - because she helped me find my own flow again. Thanks Flo and thanks Kristin!