Butterfly on a Purple Buddleia Flower

If you like butterflies flitting about your yard, you should have a few Butterfly Bushes or Buddleia.

These lovely shrubs bloom from mid-summer through August and attract many varieties of butterflies as well as hummingbirds. The flowers come in various shades of purple, pink or white and they grow to about 7 feet high. Here I've painted a butterfly visiting a deep purple buddleia in my garden. I like the cast shadows on the leaves giving the impression of soft, early morning sunlight.

• You can find my small watercolor paintings for sale in  my Etsy shop, JanetZeh.Etsy.com. Thanks for stopping by today!

Bee Balm Flowers - Monarda, Botanical Painting

Bee Balm is a nice flower to have for color in July and early August. The red varieties are especially attractive to hummingbirds. The flowers and leaves are great in a potpourri and are used for medicinal teas.

In this painting, I've added a bee to the topmost flower. There is never a moment while the sun is out that these flowers are without bees!

Great Blue Heron - watercolor painting

The neighbor's pond just down the road is perfect for a heron, and in fact, there is often one to be seen there.

On one early morning walk, I was struck by the light shining on some tall grasses with a soft mist in the background.  I thought it would make a nice setting for the heron in this painting.

• The original painting has been sold, but check my Etsy shop for more of my bird original art. Thanks for stopping by today!

Buddleia - Butterfly Bush - and Goldfinch Watercolor Painting

Butterfly bushes or Buddleia, are known for how they attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

But they evidently attract other birds too. I was quite surprised this morning to see a yellow finch on one of my butterfly bushes. He was enjoying some of the seeds from a spent flower. It made such a stunning picture that I decided to paint it!

• The original has been sold, but check my Etsy shop for more of my bird artwork.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Hills of Snow White Hydrangea - watercolor painting

My Hills of Snow Hydrangea are blooming so prettily!

Just had to paint this blossom as it has such a graceful and elegant look. I used only two colors, blue and yellow, to paint this and let the two mix freely on the wet paper to make the background. This worked beautifully for this piece, don't you think?

• Find my small floral paintings for sale at JanetZeh.Etsy.com. Thanks for stopping by today!

Orange Daylily Botanical Painting Demonstration

This beautiful double petaled day lily from my garden will make a nice subject for a demonstration of a botanical painting. Since botanicals are done from the live plant, I have cut one and brought it inside.
Come along and I'll show you how I paint it. I'll paint it to size 7" x 5".

Lavender Flowers watercolor botanical painting

This is one of my favorites for its lovely scent. I have lavender growing along the gravel path to my studio and delight in it daily.

The bees like it too and I've added one to the painting. The lavender flowers are rarely without a number of them collecting nectar from the blossoms.

• You can get the print at Prints.ZehOriginalArt.com in the botanical section. Thanks for stopping by today!

Annabelle Hydrangea watercolor painting

There is nothing quite like the big lacy pouf balls that adorn a Hills-of-Snow hydrangea bush in July. "Anabelle" is a somewhat compact variety of Hills-of-Snow, although mine grows quite large.

I did this painting with only two colors: yellow and blue which I mixed to make various shades of green. The white areas, as is the case with watercolors, is merely the white of the paper which is unpainted. This combination captures the sunlight and shadows on the flowers quite well, don't you think?

• Find my original paintings and prints in my shop at JanetZeh.Etsy.com. Thanks for stopping by and have a beautiful day!

Pink Daylily botanical watercolor painting

At this time of year, daylilies reign in my garden.

At least eight different varieties are blooming now and they really brighten up the place with their orange, yellow and pink hues. This one I like for it pale pink color and yellow center. Delicate and delightful!

Rabbit in the Petunia garden

This bunny is Violet. She is very fond of my flower garden; I see her in it every day. The funny thing about Violet is that she does not appear to be very afraid of people as you would think a wild creature would be. If I am working in the garden, she will be right there nibbling weeds as if she were tame.

She has some siblings and they are pretty much the same way although Violet is the most friendly. The best thing is that she doesn't eat the flowers much. Mostly weeds. I appreciate the help!

• You can see more of my animal art prints at Zehland.Etsy.com.

Garden Bouquet - flower oil painting

When doing botanical paintings, which I've been doing plenty of lately, I bring the flowers inside to use as reference. This makes for lots of flowers that are lovely in a bouquet together.
So, this time, I've decided to paint some of the flowers in one of my vases. These are flowers that are blooming in my garden right now. They make a pretty bouquet, don't you think?