“If thou hast two loaves of bread, sell one and buy flowers, for bread is food for the body, but flowers are food for the mind" - Galen of Pergamon, c. 200 AD
Painting flowers is like being on a mini retreat. We can enjoy our time with the flowers in the present moment with this gift of nature, relaxing, resting, rejuvenating. We feel sustained, supported and encouraged by the beautiful presence of the flowers. We can carry this through into our lives.
When we are painting flowers, it doesn’t matter what the finished image looks like, it’s about spending time with the flowers really looking at them, touching them, smelling them, enjoying them. Afterwards your artwork will be a direct reminder of the peace you felt when you were painting, and you can go back to these feelings of wellbeing at any time.
You too can take some time to paint flowers. They could be outside or indoors, it doesn’t matter.
Tuesday 12 March 2024: We met again in March, and had some beautiful blossoms and flowers to draw and paint from, including cherry plum blossom, dusky red hellebores, pink heathers, native daffodils, native primroses, oxlips, flowering quince, pink pulmonaria. We used watercolour, coloured pencils, graphite pencil and pen. I had a really lovely time, thank you everyone for coming along! Until next time, take care
Tuesday, 14 February 2024 - For February’s Bread & Roses session we had lots of fun painting and drawing snowdrops, primroses, cyclamen coum, helleborus niger, white spring heather, viburnum, tulips, and daffodils. Thank you to everybody that came and filled up both sessions. I might see some of you in March!
Tuesday, 9 January 2024 - The first session of 2024 was absolutely wonderful. It was jam packed, so much so, that we had to have an afternoon session also! We drew and painted and chatted and drank tea. What a great activity to do in darkest January. We painted tulips, hyacinths, cyclamen, sweet box, viburnum flowers, tete a tete daffodils, pussy willow and rose-hips. Everybody did really beautiful and lovely work, well done everyone! Until we meet again next time, take care, and enjoy the world around you, even in January!
It was another good Bread & Roses session this month, 12 December, the last of 2023. Thank you everyone who participated, for making it such an enjoyable morning. Everyone worked hard, but they also relaxed, slowed down, and enjoyed nature. There was some nice chat, and lovely cups of tea. And some really fantastic flower and nature artwork was produced, well done everyone!
Below are photos from our second Bread & Roses event at Unity Yard, 14 November 2023, which was another really lovely session. We had lots of flowers to draw and paint from, although possibly the gorgeous pink lilies stole the show.
Everyone did such great work, I was really blown away by the high level artwork. We used graphite pencil, watercolour paints, watercolour pencils, and water soluble graphite.
The space was really welcoming, thank you again to the staff for allowing me to hold these sessions here. I had some blueberry rooibos tea and it was delicious. Thank you to all the participants that came and joined in with this session, it was a pleasure to meet you all and make art with you!
Below is artwork from our first Bread & Roses session at Unity Yard in Holmfirth, Tuesday 10 October 2023 - You can see it is a lovely venue for us to hold these flower painting sessions at. We had tea, coffee, cake, and, I actually had some bread with my soup! Thank you to Julia, Linda and Becca for being the most supportive, attentive and generous hosts, we had a lovely time, thank you.
We had some absolutely wonderful and energetic participants, who came and got stuck right in, drawing and painting the beautiful flowers, what will probably be some of the last of the flowers from the summer garden: sunflowers, poppies, roses, hydrangeas, asters, salvias, ‘Fox and Cubs’, and one or two others that I can’t remember the names for.
We used watercolour paint, gouache paint, coloured pencils, and water-soluble pencils, both graphite and coloured. We had lovely drawing paper and beautiful watercolour paper to use as our supports.
Thank you to all the participants in this session, it was an honour to meet you and see your artwork. I think we have spread a little soul filling beauty and happiness around our community. Thank you!
Preparation:
You will need some flowers. They can be indoors in a vase or pot, or outside in nature. They can be grand, tall flowers, or they can be little, tiny gems. They can be cultivated or wild (wild flowers are a dream to draw and paint, and they can be done on a small piece of paper).
You will need some paper, either loose with something firm to draw on such as a table or board; or a sketchbook
And you will need something to capture the colour, such as coloured pencils or watercolour paints and a brush
Decide beforehand how long your flower painting session is going to be. For example it could be for between 30 minutes and an hour
Prepare yourself a nourishing drink or snack of your choice, such as a reviving cup of tea, some fresh fruit, or a healthy oaty bar
Activity:
Sit in front of your flowers (it could be just one flower). Take take a long slow deep breath and follow it all the way in and all the way out, feel your whole body relax
Whilst keeping your focus on your body, begin to also focus your attention on the flower
Slowly, begin to draw or paint. You can lightly sketch out your flower first if you like, or you can paint direct
Don’t think about other things, such as how ‘good’ your drawing is, or what ‘others’ might think. Drop all of that (it doesn’t matter) and just think about the flower. Really be there to enjoy the flower. The flower may not last long, we want to be here for it
Continue to paint your flower mindfully. Feel the peace, the quiet that comes from being with and painting the flower
When your allotted time is up, don’t worry if your painting isn't finished, it is still perfect and beautiful. You can put your painting somewhere where you can see it, and you can look at it whenever you want to go on a mini retreat again, whenever you want to feel stillness, peace, and happiness
The more you practice drawing and painting flowers, the easier and more enjoyable it gets!
“If you can appreciate each thing, one by one, you will have pure gratitude. Even though you observe just one flower, that one flower includes everything” — Shunryu Suzuki