Hydrangeas in four colours

Besides watching baseball, this was the weekend to finish up the garden cleanup. I had a list of things that needed to be done — mainly cutting down perennials and shrubs. The biggest of the tasks on my list was to trim the hydrangeas. As I trimmed and discarded the cuttings, I noticed the beautiful, fading colours of each of the different varieties. I set aside one branch from each plant, and when I was done, my reward was to paint them.

You don’t need many colours to paint faded blooms. For these hydrangeas, I chose Carmine and Raw Sienna for the flowers, and Sap Green and Payne’s Grey for the leaves. I love the brownish hues you get when you mix green and red together, so that was my mix for the darks.

This was a great warm-up exercise for my one-day “Plants and Flowers in your Sketchbook” workshop in Hudson, Quebec, coming up this week. This session is full, but I’m holding another one on November 20th and I have a few spots left. If you are interested, drop me a line.