Blooming Summer

When I was a kid I used to spend my Sumner vacation with my relatives at villages near Krakow in Poland. To get there I had to take a train and then a bus. After jumping out of the bus, the first thing I always noticed were the wild flowers in the meadows. With their various colors they welcomed me to the back country paradise. 

For a long time I didn't know why farmers didn't like poppy flowers blooming on their fields and why called them weeds.  I recently learnt why. If poppy seeds mixed up with corn seeds, the flour would have yellowish tint and it gets rotten faster. Lately I haven't seen any weeds in the crops. I guess now we have herbicides that completely eliminate all wild plants. Well, I miss them a lot.

Last year my neighbor gave me a small poppy plant and this year I had my first poppy flower in my garden. I was so happy to watch it develop its bud and finally bloom. I took a few pictures, sketched, and painted it with watercolors. The original painting was sent to Poland to my dear cousin who has the same admiration for these wild flowers as I do.

The painting process is on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84uHkM_EBUA 

If you'd like to paint it too you can copy my sketch. Happy painting