For me, springtime in the garden always means violas and pansies. They’re some of the first things to show up at garden centers and one of the first things to bloom in my garden.

You saw them last month in my April garden tour post.

It’s not surprising that violas and pansies are also usually one of the first things I bring up to my studio to paint. In fact, it’s become a tradition for me to paint them each spring.

Although I’ve painted them again and again I never tire of them as subjects for my botanical watercolors. After a long, snowy Wisconsin winter, it’s such a joy to have fresh flowers snipped from the garden to inspire my art.

Other than the fact that they’re early garden color, I think I love them so much because violas and pansies are so charming! Their variation in colors and patterns is irresistible. It often appears as if they’ve been painted in watercolor, so how could I resist?

Of course, I’ve written about violas as painting inspiration on my blog before and I even teach a class* about painting violas in watercolor, too.

There’s nothing quite as thrilling as mixing up paint for some of the first garden-inspired watercolors of the year. Even if, or maybe specifically because, it’s for some of my favorite flowers.

What’s been inspiring you lately? What creative spring traditions do you have?

*The class I teach is one of 24 classes I have on the online learning platform Skillshare. You can learn for 14 days for free and have access to all of my classes and thousands more from teachers all over the world. Want to know a bit more about the platform? I wrote a post about how Skillshare works. Of course, if you have questions, please let me know (you can contact me here). I’d be happy to answer them.