At this time of year I must paint Daffodils

Yes, at this time of year I feel the urge to paint daffodils.

I spent many years of my life living in Pembrokeshire, Wales. My son was born there. My daughter had her first day in school there.

March 1st is a very important day in Wales and indeed for all Welsh people everywhere. It is St.David’s day, the Patron Saint of Wales. It is a day of celebration. The children dress up in the Welsh national costume and everyone wears a daffodil pinned to their lapel. Some people wear a leek but they tend to regret that as the day goes on, when the leek starts  to pong very strongly.

Later I spent four years in Cornwall where daffodils are also very important. The milder climate means that the daffodils flower much earlier in the year. The race is on to be the first to sale their daffodils and get the best price. The fields are full of beautiful yellow daffodils.

“I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.”

” A host of Golden Daffodils”  Thank you William Wordsworth

This year I am a little late but the urge is still there.

I have painted them in my art journal with Derwent Inktense pencils.

I have also painted a daffodil field using a process using masking fluid in layers with watercolour in between. I find this process exciting because you are never sure what the outcome will be. There is a video of both of these pictures and if they are not here on my website you will find them on my YouTube channel HevLovesFlowers