Every year I think to myself, I should really paint something besides sunflowers. I've painted them so many times before.
And every summer, as these gorgeous, tall, regal flowers unfurl their petals in the park or show up in the floral stands, I fall in love all over again and start painting.
In this first YT recording of the summer, we dive into painting sunflowers. We admire their dozens of pointed petals, the sunflower face filled with tiny seeds and its bold but soft leaves and protective thistles around the base of the flower.
It is not a bad thing to love the beautiful, true, and good. It is those things that are beautiful, good, and true that have enduring power and a sense of timelessness.
Consider the stories we love, not the ones that are here for a trendy season, then fall off the charts and book clubs with a plop. Think of the stories that are timeless. Pride & Prejudice, Lord of the Rings, the Narnia series, Anne of Green Gables. There are many, many others.
There is truth in beauty and beauty in truth. And both are full of goodness. Goodness doesn't get a lot of coverage as an attribute in today's world, but one of its definitions (according to Oxford and Merriam dictionaries) is "the beneficial or nutritional element of something" such as food.
Maybe that is the allure of good and beautiful things: they nourish us.
The Nourishment of Beauty
Beauty nourishes our hearts, souls, minds, and bodies in a way that trends, fads, the latest and greatest miniseries, intrigues, and fashions just cannot do.
There's a lot of pretty things out right now. Lots of eye candy. Lots of entertainment and distraction. Much of it is fine. It's fun. I fall down the pretty, entertaining, and often distracting rabbit hole of Pinterest and Substack like nobody else! There's nothing wrong with that.
But perhaps much of what I'm consuming, though not bad, is not nourishing.
True beauty truly nourishes because it is full of goodness, full of truth.
Maybe that's why, almost on a whim, I decided to launch this new season of the Creative Season YouTube channel with the theme, "Celebrating Things that Don't Change."
I thank God, that in this world of continual change and upheaval, some things stay the same.
Think about the beautiful things in your life that don't change – more or less. We live in a broken world with limitations and sometimes our life changes so dramatically, change is inevitable. But broadly speaking, consider what lovely, nourishing things stay the same in your life:
• The seasonal things don't change that you love every year (sunflowers for me, the trees turning to a feast of colors in the fall)
• Life giving practices and habits don't change
• Books, movies, stories, that never grow tiresome
• Traditions passed on from one generation to the next
• Flowers that come every year
In this first week of celebrating things that don't change, we are painting beautiful sunflowers. I have not grown tired of painting them each year and I hope you haven't either! Not only are they gorgeous, but their colors also sing together so well, it is hard to mess them up.
Not only are sunflowers eternally beautiful, their character and the attributes attached to them are timeless and nourishing as well. Reliable, steadfast in storms and focused. Sunflowers follow the sun; some will even turn their faces as the sun crosses the sky throughout the day. Isn't that fascinating? And such an intriguing lesson for us.
Tips for Painting Stunning Sunflowers with Watercolor
I wrote a full how-to-paint-a-sunflower
here in this article (and video) a few years ago, but just to recap how to paint a sunflower:
• You only need 3-5 colors: Sap green, brown (I use raw umber), and yellow. I use a few yellows and I recommend you do too. Cadmium yellow (light and medium), yellow ochre, gamboge, lemon yellow are all good choices.
• Ensure the "face" of the sunflower is big enough. If it's too small, the sunflower ends up looking like a zinnia or a daisy.
• The petals should extend about halfway to 2/3 the size of the face. (I demonstrate this on the You Tube paint-with-me video).
There are over 70 different types of sunflowers. Each sunflower specie is a bit different. The best way to paint them is to have a bunch in front of you in your space to see the unique characteristics of the flower. The next best thing is a good picture! (Pinterest is a great place to go for pictures of sunflowers).
