I love roses and every year we can't resist adding more and more rose beds to our garden. To get the best out of them they have to be pruned, sprayed, fed and mulched every winter. It's hard work and I always end up covered in scratches, but then, when the spring comes, all that is forgotten as we are rewarded with a wonderful display of colour, perfume and different shaped blossoms.
Finally all the hard work is done for this year. My husband has also almost finished shoring up the defences around each bed to keep out the hungry wallabies who love nothing more than a fresh rose shoot! So, with roses on the brain, it's no surprise that my easel has been filled with rose paintings this week. Some are better than others and, like the roses, I will prune them before deciding which to exhibit. A few have ended up in the bin already along with the rose prunings!
It's not just roses that benefit from pruning, but also art and I constantly strive to pare a subject down to its essence and get rid of any superfluous detail that doesn't help to tell the story. As with roses, so with watercolour painting: the more effort you put in, the greater the pleasure and reward....even if there is a lot of hard work and a few scratches along the way!
