Playing with gesso

The past ten days, I have focused on my plants.

We had a wonderful trip down to Homestead, FL to the Redland Orchid Festival.

It is a long drive but it is SO worth it.

We always enjoy driving through the Florida Everglades.  One year the bromeliads were

blooming in the trees and it was quite spectacular.

I only purchased one orchid and some supplies, but totally enjoyed each of the booths

from all over the world, each with it's own selection of plants.

So my art this week is a happy accident.

I always use gesso to prepare my watercolor paper for the paint.  More and more,

I am using a second layer of texture to add more interest to the painting.

Often because of all of the color, the texture is lost.

So this week I tried something different.

I only used a couple of shades of red.  It has two coats of paint.

The first layer had bits of color added here and there (Mexican Serape colors)

but I didn't like the additional color so did a second coat of light and dark red.

Look at this little beauty.  My husband treated himself to the bromeliad this week.

The bud was the solid pink and then today these little purple flowers appeared.

Quite spectacular.

Happy news, the dendrobiums are blooming again.  

Wishing you all a happy PPF and thank you to Kristin and Eva.