It's spring outside!

Early in March, I bought a little pot of daffodils for my studio. I’ve always dreamt of painting daffodils from life. I love being guided by living things, catching its shapes, its dynamics, its movements (yes, plants do move). 

With the lockdown declared and extended, my tête-à-tête with these little daffodils became more intense. Examining the evolution of my live models daily, I painted some fifty watercolors from various points of view and at various stages in the life of these early spring flowers. 

Before the lockdown, I had noticed a lot of them on the sides of country roads as well as in the flower beds at the Jardin du Palais Royal in Paris. Confined nature in my studio near Paris, the daffodils bloomed, then slumped until they dried and wilted.

Our dialogue was so exciting that I kept painting them. I love evoking the cycle of life, and my little model lent itself to that exercise. 

A long time ago, I painted "The life and death of a chicken” from the egg to the bone via the pecking hen and the ready-to-cook chicken.

Over the last four decades, I’ve painted numerous flowers, especially irises and sages in full bloom, then shriveled up on their stems.  

My lockdown daffodils have aroused anew my passion for conversing with nature and time.

I have regularly posted paintings of the daffodils series on my Facebook and Instagram pages. Follow the series on my Facebook account & on my Instagram page

My website : www.isabelle-bonzom.org

Below : Isabelle Bonzom "Lockdown daffodils" 2020 watercolors/paper

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