Day 16 #stradaeasel

I’m officially halfway through the challenge—hurrah!

Today actually cleared up—no gray after 6 days socked in. Change is in the air (quite literally) and snow is forecast for tomorrow. More snow paintings, fun!

I had a meeting in Kalispell today and when I have to drive into the “big city,” I do my weekly food shopping. I also stopped in at the craft store and picked up some brushes. I got a self-imposed lesson on the quality of brushes. I have some nice ones already and the ones that I purchased today don’t hold a candle to what I’ve got—I should probably say, they don’t hold an “edge” compared to what I’ve got. As I painted, I couldn’t hold a sharp edge on the brush and I was constantly pulling bristles off the painting that were left behind by the brushes. Lesson learned!

I picked up a bouquet of tulips while shopping. Because I didn’t get into my studio until 5:30 this evening, I decided to paint a single tulip in a very simple setup. However, today I lit the flower from the left…oh my, breaking out of the box!

Unfortunately my photo doesn’t show the nuances of color in the tulip. There are some rich redish-purplish tones in the petal at the front. As I was painting, I swear that tulip slowly started to open. Close observation can reveal some delightful surprises.

“Orange Tulip,” 6″ x 8″, oil

©Francesca Droll, Orange Tulip Set up