Rise and Shine

The beginning....

Just opening

Sunflower bud

the center of this heavenly blue just glows

The summer Gateway East Artist guild show is coming up at Our Lady of the Snows Shrine in Belleville, Il.  I've had an idea floating around in my head to create a painting for the show with heavenly blue morning glories and huge sunflowers.  In my photo file I have photos of sunflowers and morning glories that I took several years back with my first digital camera, an old Sony Mavica, 1.5 megapixels, that I don't think I could improve on with my new Sony 14.1 mp.  I still regret that the read/write drive went out on that camera!  A few summers ago I had morning glories to die for climbing all over our deck.  So, last night I prepared a full sheet of watercolor paper, did the sketch from my photos, applied some resist, something I don't normally use, and let it sit over night.  Today, after a good night's rest, I've started to let the water and paint do their magic as I witness the design popping out of the background.  We'll see where it all goes, but I'm having fun in the process.  I do think the painting will name itself "Rise and Shine,"  unless it changes it's mind!