LLOYD II & GETTING READY TO PAINT

Guess who's going to Boston?  Lloyd II will be leaving my Etsy shop and heading out tomorrow morning.  He is a little apprehensive and it shows, but he'll be fine.  So I spent part of the day getting him ready to go. 

Au revoir, Lloyd! 

Then I picked up a couple new canvases and got ready to paint by taking some photos of flowers from my garden.  Even more than the flowers, I'm looking forward to the challenge of painting the jar of water.  These are in an empty mayonnaise jar.  I love the distortion of the stems underwater, and the little changes in color from above, to surface, to under the water.  We'll see how that goes . . .

 A photo taken from above allows you to see so much more of the water and an interesting view of the stems.  That, along with the sparkle of the glass and the ridges around the rim should be pretty challenging!

 There are lots of different blues, grays, and greens in that water. 

 And so much beautiful detail in these flowers!

I like to crop out individual flowers in different positions and stages of opening so I can get a close-up view of all the colors and shadows.  The photo below really shows good detail of the dark green, overlapping bracts zinnias have, under the flower head.

Zinnias have little "disk" flowers in the center, and "ray" petals around the outside.  To make it realistic it all has to be there.

My canvas for this is large - 24" x 30" - so the flowers are going to be WAY bigger than life!

And just one photo of a large part of my garden.

Just because.

 So, tomorrow will be a painting day.

All.

Day.

Long.

Can't wait!

MEET LLOYD!

I've taken almost 2 weeks off from blogging.  During that time, I've been spending a lot of time in my gardens, enjoying the beautiful weather we've been having.  Spring is finally here!  

Also, during that time, I've been thinking.  Thinking about your wonderful comments and emails.  Thinking about things to make and then, of course, wanting to share them with YOU!  So, I guess I'm going to keep at it but just restrain myself a little more - maybe not posting quite as often.  You all assured me - that's okay!  And so today, I'm coming back with a fun project to share with you.

Do you remember Lloyd?  He is a character from Miss Gillyflower's Adventures.  If you've been following my blog for awhile, you'll remember reading about that - part of my goal list.

His tag describes everything you need to know about him.

Well, meet Lloyd.

In the flesh.

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He looks pretty serious, but he really did love posing for the camera.

Even showed a little attitude!  He's proud of the fact that he is "baby friendly".  All soft and washable, and nary a button to be found!

He specifically wanted a close-up of his bow-tie!  Why a bow-tie, you ask?  I asked Lloyd that very same question.  His answer?

"It's Sunday!  So, of course I'm wearing my bow-tie!"

So that's Lloyd.  Kind, gentle, helpful, all-around good guy, Lloyd.  

And, one of Miss Gillyflower's dearest friends.  Lloyd is now in the arms of a sweet little one year old named Luke.  

Want a Lloyd of your very own?  

He has arrived in my Etsy Shop, Gillyflower Cottage.

She just may be the next character to "come to life"!