My own tulip festival in the middle of winter

Today I had my last art class of 2008 and I pushed to finish the project I’ve been working on all month. I went slow and easy, afraid of destroying my work. I like doing flowers, so I chose this photograph of tulips. It really is a gorgeous picture and I loved it immediately. My problem was trying to actually make the watercolors look luminous and bright, and also try not to be too realistic or detailed. My teacher says my style is absolutely not abstract, that I am too well behaved with my brush. In another words I am not totally comfortable with a brush. I try too hard and my work is very “contained”. This was supposed to be a loose, sort of abstract work. I started off that way with the leaves, and then I just loved trying to do the tulips with light and color and got carried away. Frankly it’s really the first water color I’ve done that I really like. I think I’ll even put it in a frame. I like the glow and I like the dark background (that she tried to persuade me not to do!). She has suggested I try doing several larger works for framing in my apartment. I might just take her up on that idea. I finally think there is hope for watercolors, which is a huge step for me, as I seriously considered chucking the whole medium. I hated it at the beginning. I do want to get back to pastels, though, as I just loved them and only did one drawing. Maybe I’ll take a whack at these tulips…

P.S. Don't forget to respond to my poll at the left.