Magnolia love

This is a watercolor painting of a magnolia blossom that I finished on Thursday. I really like doing paintings of somewhat realistic flowers with vague impressionistic backgrounds. This was a fun painting and a great exercise in painting "whites."
I have been actively working on a wallquilt that I will present as a tutorial on the Year of Color blog in August - maybe I will do a sneak peek in a week or two. It is now all designed and cut out and I have begun to sew it together. I want it totally pieced and ready to quilt by the time we go on vacation in July as I can quilt it on the road. I also have 2 blouses that I want to get made in time for vacation along with finishing the Collage Couture class (I worked some yesterday afternoon on lessons 4 and 5 - packing tape transfer, embedding objects, and crackle paint. I have no funds to spend on crackle paint so I used some cheap white glue I had - it worked sort of. I love this class (which I won) but honestly I can't afford to go out and buy all the supplies they recommend. Realistically my only source of supplies is Michaels and they don't really carry the good brands anyway.Wouldn't you think there could be samplers of the acrylic mediums - I mean, to buy a jar of something and not even know if you are going to use it ever again is crazy to me.
In my watercolor class we are going to begin mixed media projects - pieces built around a painting but with other techniques and found objects included. I am doing some thinking and sketching but right now I think I will do a piece centered around a watercolor cattleya orchid and the natural environment around it - tree bark, possibly ribbons or fibers as the roots - this is just in the embryo stage now. I will keep you updated.
Have a great and creative week - next Sunday is Midsummer's night! Let's party!