Today I set out to talk a little about colors. One of the funnest and most challenging things about painting with flowers is that you only have what nature gives you to work with. I am lucky to be blessed with a girlfriend with a rainbow colored thumb which provides a fair amount of options to explore. Plus if there is something I want more of or would like her to add, she is generally very accommodating because it shows I am also taking interest in the things she likes, albeit mine come from a direction, they both get us to the same place.

The only challenge thus far has been that she has a bit of an aversion to yellows and oranges, but luckily for me, she likes me, so there are a few floating around.

Although it would probably only be a misdemeanor, I reccommend not raiding your neighbors garden at least not without permission. Another option is to just go and buy plants or bouquets and come winter time I just might do the latter, but there is something special about knowing that the place you are taking from will give again next year.

Besides, I haven’t yet been thrown out by security, but I have gotten more than one strange look as we wander around a nursery and I take a petal or two from various plants and stick them in my pocket…

You can also look in public spaces for many different options you may not have at home quite yet. Parks, playgrounds, office buildings etc all have landscaping from which to try a few, take sparingly or ask for permission first.

Here is a sample of the colors I found in Lisa’s garden this weekend, omitting green of course. This was done on some thick sketchbook paper which as close as I can tell behaves like watercolor paper. Some of the colors are quite a bit different then on canvas.

One tip for colors in the wild. Either have a canvas or your palette book handy in order to put the petals to use. Most don’t hold up to waiting for very long and while sometimes a dryer flower will give you different results, a too dry flower will give you nothing at all and then the gift is wasted.

Have a camera available as well unless you are a master gardener or a botanist as trying to identify a flower later might be hard to do if you wanted to use it again.

Bring plastic bags with you and store the petals in one until you get home to use them. They will not dry out anywhere near as quick and though I haven’t tried it yet, placing them in the fridge might preserve them a little longer.

Best choice of all though might be to just bring your canvas with you and see what you can create with what you are given.