- May - Paint with me: tulips, blackbirds and anemones
Monthly update from my art studio
Hello friend,
Entire fields here turned yellow, purple, red and orange - the bulbs were blooming! I live in the bulb region, and millions of flowers are grown here every year. Every year, there is a festival (a flower parade), and a parade of floats filled with flowers then drives through the region to celebrate spring.
This vlog shows you what I painted last month:
Exercise: Painting Tulips (Bringing Spring’s Vibrance to Life)
As spring unfolds, tulips bloom, filling gardens with vibrant colours and graceful shapes. There's something magical about capturing the essence of these flowers in paint—whether it's the delicate curves of their petals or the rich, bold hues that mark the arrival of warmer days.
I invite you to explore the beauty of tulips through painting. Tulips offer a fantastic opportunity to practice both colour blending and texture. Whether you prefer a loose, impressionistic approach or a more detailed style, their distinct form allows for endless creative expression. You can experiment with light and shadow, using contrasting colours to bring your tulips to life on the canvas.
I’ve shared a few of my tulip paintings below, which showcase the joy of bringing these stunning flowers to life with a brush. I hope they inspire you to pick up your paintbrush and capture your version of spring's beauty!
Aside from the great joy of painting flowers, I also feel a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Trying to stay afloat as an artist at a time when AI is taking over your client work, and people may have less to spend means that you have to be creative in many ways and may even have to redirect your art journey. I am sure we will all find our way, and I also think there will be more and more appreciation for human-made art in the coming years. In that transitional phase, I think supporting each other is all the more important.
And I did what I always do when I feel frazzled: put on comfortable clothes, drink my favourite tea (rooibos), and make something that doesn't have too much pressure behind it. The result was a looser pencil drawing, and it was the most fun I had creating last month.
You can watch the complete drawing process in this video:
Want to join us next month for a drawing session?
I’m taking you to 2 countries this month!
🌸🐦⬛🌿🍊Painting the Cote D’Azur - Monday 12th of May at 16:00 (4PM) CEST
We’ll take you on a journey to the Côte D’Azur, which Pauline just visited and Charlotte has visited many times. Inspired by the beautiful colours of the coast and the wonderful foliage, we fill our sketchbooks with some mediterranean sunshine.
🐞🌼🌳🐝 Cotswolds Cottage Flowers - Thursday 22nd of May 20:00 (8PM) CEST I’m so exited about hosting an art retreat in the cotswolds next year (more info will folllow soon), so let’s celebrate by taking a little trip to their cottage gardens! Grab your sketchbook and walk with me through lush colourful flowery gardens.
🎨📖🖼️✨ Golden Finishing Hour - Tuesday 27th of May 16:00 (4PM) CEST As requested by Lenore, an hour where we meet to work in a sketchbook we want to finish (or fill it a little more), or complete/work on a larger piece that is waiting for us. Such a good idea because I have so many sketches I’d like to catch up on! SIGN UP HERE
Please use this time zone converter to find the times in your area: www.worldtimebuddy.com
I’ll also join
in an 😳 Awkward Drawing Show on Substack Live!
In the Club:
My sketches from our William Morris drawing session
even managed to make them into beautiful repeats!
More tulips from our co-sketching sessions online by Dieke and Azaleas by
Want to catch up on videos?
Here’s a selection of posts from our (paid) archive:
Videos for free members:
Monthly Nature Palette
This month could hardly be more colourful—there are so many flowers! I based the monthly nature palette on these beautiful flowers I saw at the flower parade. Feel free to use it and tag me if you create something with it!
What’s up next: Travel Sketchbooks
What we will do next month: Documenting our surroundings during our travels! Whether it’s native plants and flowers, local vegetables or dishes, or gorgeous animals you encounter, they can all live in our sketchbooks.
I’ll also share my sketchbooks from my recent trip to the Côte D’Azur.
Here’s some inspiration to start this month:
I will devote a post to showing you how other artists use nature and their surroundings as inspiration and capture it. This YouTube video by
is a great example.My travel art supplies from last year (Cornwall) and this year (Côte D’Azur)
This YouTube video By PearFleur. I love her approach to tiny landscapes.
- , painting at Glebe House.
Lovelies
The colourful houses in Menton, Côte D’Azur. We’ll paint them together this month!
Comfort Music from my teenage years : Tori Amos - Album Under The Pink
How to nurture your imagination by
The Hidden Skill You Need To Develop episode with Cheyenne Barton in
Andy J. Pizza's Audio / Visual Newsletter s Creative Peptalk Podcast
Thank you for taking a peek into my world! If you enjoyed this, please give it a like or a comment. Have a lovely month, and I hope to travel in our sketchbooks together soon,
These sessions sound soooo fun! And I am super excited to have you join me live! Maybe I’ll pick some wildflowers to draw that day. 💐😸