By the end of 2023, when I was in the middle of creating and selling my first ornament collection for Christmas, I came up with the idea of creating 12 small size oil paintings, showing my favourite spring flowers. (Well, I only painted 6 this spring, find out why below). This blog post is dedicated to the creation process of the Spring Flower Collection and sheds a light on each of the paintings. Explore how it came to be and see spring unfold in my paintings.
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Join Me on A Walk from Winter into May.
Often, we tend to miss out on the seasons unfolding, as our days fly by, filled with busyness and to-dos. We get lost in the feeds on our phones, binge-watch series in the evening, hustle after the next life achievement. We get gloomy and depressed in winter, feeling exhausted after the holidays, wishing for slow living and spring to emerge. Though when it arrives, we barely notice, already running fast forward into summer. Who needs spring, when there could be the plenitude of all growth?
Well, I needed spring this year and I wish it would stay longer. A rainy winter called for a flourishing spring, and I sought colours. Did you seek the lightness, renewal, and hope of spring as well? With the Spring Flower Collection, I tried to catch those tiny big moments of spring that highlight the joy of the season and the beauty of blossoms.
Like Picnics and Somersaults in Spring
By adding a Spring Flower painting to your home, you become a collector of the seasons. These paintings create corners of colours, dopamine dress your walls and radiate a sense of joy all year round. From simple elegance, over wilderness and boldness to spreading gaiety: There’s a dear one for everyone, making us dream about picnics with friends, hands covered in soil from gardening, spring walks with the first warm air, letting go of winter blues and reminding us of the seasons.
Keep them as a reminder to check in with yourself, to explore nature and, consciously, observe how it’s unfolding, day after day. Keep them, for happiness and hope.
Like a meadow covered with spring flowers.
See, the grass is full of stars,
Fallen in their brightness;
Hearts they have of shining gold,
Rays of shining whiteness.
Buttercups have honeyed hearts,
Bees they love the clover,
But I love the daisies’ dance
All the meadow over.
Blow, O blow, you happy winds,
Singing summer’s praises,
Up the field and down the field
A-dancing with the daisies.
– Daisy Time | Majorie Pickthall –
I found this poem online and thought it to be quite fitting, hoping to inspire your imagination.
A closer look at each Spring Flower painting.
Come with me and let’s take a closer look at each Spring Flower painting. We’re following them through the end of winter into spring, watching them unravel just as they grow in nature.
Black Hellebore – helleborus niger
She is the elegant beauty, timeless and wise. Growing in late winter, it still feels like the very first appearance of spring when her petals peek through the brown earth or snow. She is sturdy, but sensitive, giving us a feeling of hope and spark a sense of letting go.
Liverleaf – hepatica nobilis
They are dots of colours amidst the grey. Growing early in yet silent forests, they seem feral, audacious and brave, mingling with giant trees, where there’s still winter. Another first sign of spring. Side note: I can never tell for sure if they are blue or purple, which let to difficulties while painting them. The liverleaf in the painting is inspired by one found on a small path in the Alps, hiking to eat Kaiserschmarrn with a view.
Snowdrop – Galanthus nivalis
They are joyful little flowers, indicating the emergence of spring. Lucky, they stretch their little petals, the first green and white. Delicacy accompanied by bright joy, dancing with the wind, sunrays as spotlights, seeming fairy-like and light.
Crocus – Crocus tommasinianus
It has me dream of days outside, of sunny days, of the smell of spring, even when winter is reluctant to go. They beautify the sleeping garden, adding purple speckles of all types. I’d like to sit among them, watch the first bees, following their daringness into the season.
Daffodil – narcissus
The sun is warming her yellow petals. Passionately, she sweeps into moments with ease and feasts with friends, while guiding the way to rhubarb-mocktails and strawberry cakes (not yet, but soon!). Colourful and vivid she has us, representing spring like no other.
Primrose – Primula veris
Heading into May, tranquillity surrounds her, as well as cheerfulness and warmth. Merrily, she asks us to enjoy our time, join her to flourish and seek time with nature’s delights, before summer takes over and the tiny moments become big, vast and expansive.
Collection Details: The Nitty-Gritty Things Worth Knowing
Size: 15 x 15 cm
Material: Wood Panel (source unknown), Sennelier Acrylic Gesso, Winsor & Newton Watersoluble Oil Paint. Natural Earth Paint Varnish. Titled, dated and signed on the back as well as signed on the front.
Behind The Scenes: Read About The Creative Process Behind My Spring Flower Paintings
After you’ve been introduced lightly and literary to this beautiful collection of small size oil paintings, follow me behind the scenes into my studio and read about the crafty and creative part, about art-making and about what it’s like to be a curious creative. Please note that the text below was written while I was painting the collection and I updated it on the go. Hope you enjoy having a peek.
Gathering Inspiration For The Spring Flower Collection
It took a long while for me to come up with an idea for my next collection. Especially the second half of 2023 had left me a bit burned out and even though I tried to stay open for “being inspired”, nothing really lit the spark. Until, I think it was in November, I went to the art store and brought home with me my first small wood panel. It sat on my desk, while I was busy painting ceramic ornaments and the days got darker and moody and it rained and rained and rained. One day, may brain just said – and I can’t explain it in a different way -: Spring flowers! Twelve! Small and on wood panels! Now, here I am, painting colourful spring flowers on wood panels and it’s been a true joy so far.
Starting-off Hurdles And The Problem With Experiments.
In the beginning of the creation process of the spring flower paintings, I faced two main issues. The first one was blank canvas anxiety and the second one is my wish to make my art practice more and more eco-friendly, so I tested some new art supplies and that went incredibly wrong.
Blank Canvas Anxiety Kept Me From Starting To Paint For Two Months.
Artist’s block or blank canvas anxiety can be incredibly limiting and so I didn’t dare to start my spring flower oil paintings before March. There were too many unknown variables (never used wood panel before, never used gesso before, hadn’t painted with oils in almost a year) and so I told myself I wasn’t ready yet, it’s still winter, so the feeling for the season hasn’t arrived yet, etc. But when March arrived, I had enough and forced myself to start with reducing the unknown and pre-plan all spring flowers and colour combinations in canva. Afterwards, I set out and stained the backgrounds of six wood panels. It made the initial hurdle much smaller and so I tricked myself into painting again.
Experimenting With New Art Supplies
I will write another in-depth blog post about this soon, so I’ll just scratch the issue, but as I strive to make my oil painting practice as eco-friendly as possible, I experiment with new art supplies every now and then and this time it was paint thinner and brush cleaner. Well, to summarize, the fumes from both made my feel bad and my watersoluble oil paint didn’t work with the paint thinner, so when the paint dried, it cracked and I had to sand it all off and start again. As oil paint dries very slowly and I lost two weeks for the whole process until I could work on them again. That was annoying.
The First Three: Liverleaf, Crocus and Daffodil.
It’s the beginning of April and so far I’ve finished three spring flower paintings showing a liverleaf, a crocus and a daffodil. Due to limited time and energy capacity, I decided to stay with six paintings for this year and work on the last six later on.
These paintings add vibrant, joyful colours to your home and highlight a favourite nook on your desk or bookshelf.
To be continued …
The final three (for now): Primrose, Snowbell and Black Hellebore.
It’s the beginning of May already and I’ve finally finished the Spring Flower Collection a week ago. While I had painted the Primrose in mid-April, it took me a while – sometimes, when life is incredibly busy, it’s so difficult to find the time and space to paint – to start with the remaining two. I’m not sure whether it’s been due to stressing moments in my personal life (my horse is severely sick and it’s constandly in my head) or because finishing a collection always means to let it go as well and I enjoyed this one so much that I somehow don’t want it to end.
Creating these paintings brought me so much joy and their vibrant colours still light me up. They are currently hanging in my dining room, to fully dry and to be admired (or critically observed depending on my mood).
I’ve learned so much!
Over the course of the past four months, while creating these spring flower paintings, I learned a lot about oil painting and could improve my technique tremedously. Some paintings where more challenging than others and I’m still amazed about the Black Hellebore, the last painting to be finished, because it looks so great in real. Sadly, I wasn’t able to capture the depth of the blue, compared to the white in all detail on photos. Art can be tricky to photograph sometimes.
Anyway, these six paintings taught me a lot and I can’t wait to sit behind my easel again, though this time the painting may be bigger. I’ve become weary of tiny brushes for a while.
All text, photos, illustrations and artworks are human-generated and no AI was used while creating them.
