Bullied Tulips...

The Summer of Colour has started over at

Twinkle Twinkle

and the first colour challenge is Rainbow Sherbet

so all pinks, oranges, yellow and a touch of white

not exactly colours you find abounding in Queensland 

in a rather blustery and grey winter

but in one of those magical coincidences 

I arrived at the grocery shop just as a man was unpacking arm loads

of the most glorious looking tulips in rainbow sherbet type colours.

How we were managing to have tulips in winter was a touch puzzling 

so I asked the man about it and he said they had been forced 

forced... okay that doesn't sound too good...

For the rest of the shop all I could think about was field full of tulips

with men standing over them shouting at them to grow

or maybe they had workers walking around in swimsuits 

trying to fool them into thinking it it warmer than it is

or maybe, in a bad flower farm, you have an awful man who holds secateurs

 near buds and tells them to bloom or the bud gets it

no matter what happens bullied tulips can't be happy tulips

especially when upon blooming they find Winter rather than Spring

talk about being ripped off at every turn

so it was with a heavy heart that I carried my poor bullied tulips home...

I tried to find them a lovely sunny spot

and put them in a pretty vase

but I think they were just too much for them and they lasted a very short time

not really long enough to do the more detailed drawing I had hoped

so instead I only managed this sketchy painting

but at least there is evidence that they were once here

valiantly blooming through a cold winter day

I almost abandoned painting them all together

and just submitted this drawing I did of some poppies late last year

which conveniently happened to be in Rainbow Sherbet colours

as it is one of my favourite botanical drawings that I completed

but thought that was a bit rude

so I am putting both in 

and you can imagine the tulips done in the detail like the poppies

and also because I don't want to miss Sunday Sketches

and there was minimal drawing in the tulips

whereas the poppies are drawn

so wins all round 

well except for the poor bullied tulips

and fingers crossed that the next colour prompt 

will be seasonal and the trauma can be averted... xx

 My last few posts are linked here

just click on the title and you will head to them...

Slammin Tams...

Life's Too Short...