Flowering Tea

Hi everyone, 

 Happy May!  We've been having a few lovely warm, sunny days. It's so liberating to be out and

about without winter clothing.  I've been traveling without my camera, so I don't have any pictures other than cell phone pics of the wild flowers. They are everywhere this year and in places where I haven't seen wildflowers before. A bumper crop. Lovely!

 Since I love tea and flowers, it will come as no surprise that I like blooming tea.  Normally, I brew two pots from one flower ball, but apparently you can brew three. I love the colour and if you like green tea it's tasty, too.

 Transcending Beauty ~ Green tea, jasmine and lily flowers.  It takes 45 minutes to tie a flowering tea ball.  Once you add hot water, a quarter sized ball quickly unfurls in the pot before your eyes.

                                                                  

For the drawing board, two fresh sprigs of reasonable priced Tiger Lilies from the florist.

                                                    

           

Art for art's sake...

                              Hawthorn berries The frost-bitten berries turn bright orange in the fall.

   Trying out Bockingford hot press 300g/140lb. watercolour paper.  I decided on a practice run before I start a Crab Apple painting. I've transferred the drawing to the Bockingford paper, but since I have one good Fabriano block left, I think I'll stick with the tried and true. In the meantime, I'll keep practicing on Bockingford. I'm trying to familiarize myself with it because the Fabriano company is still working out some issues. 

Bockingford is nice and sturdy. You can lift colour well too, but just at the right time. I found it's tricky to add more colour to a wet into wet wash that, because of a fraction of a smidgen of too much water, doesn't like to be disturbed.

 I've also tried Moulin du Roy hot press by Canson.  It's very smooth much like illustration board so it's easy for a wet into wet wash to dry out too quickly.  Windsor and Newton's Blending Medium slows the drying time. I haven't tried mine yet.  Recently, I heard that some people are having great success using the wrong side of the Moulin du Roy.  My O my, the intrigues of paper!

I am enjoying Season 4 of  When Calls the Heart. If you haven't seen it, it's a wonderful Hallmark production.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy the week...