This painting. I have been on a real roller-coaster of emotions with this one! From the delight of painting these delicate flowers, to the abysmal doom of painting the background and the relief of finishing the border, this painting got me laughing and crying. I’m so proud of not giving up on it, and now I’m very happy with how it turned out!

I used watercolours and inks on watercolour paper. It took me 40 hours to complete this painting.

I had a lot of trouble with the background colour. At first is was too light, then too dark, then I lost my nerve and put it aside for a while. In the end, I lifted quite a lot of the original background paint, and I like how it looks. All this painting and lifting gave a lot of texture that nicely contrasts with the crisp flowers. The joy and anguish of analog art!

I chose this tree because it grows in Vietnam. My mother told me that when she saw this tree in flowers, she would feel both happy and sad: happy because it announced the summer break from school, and sad because it meant saying goodbye to her friends. This personal link to this tree made it even more fun and meaningful to paint. As a wink to this story, I gave the little fairy my mom’s signature hairstyle. I hope to see this tree in real life one day!

If you like this piece, it is available as a print in my Etsy shop. Each time you buy from my shop, you help me keep on making art. Thank you 🙂