A fluffy pink heart for Valentine's Day

Chaucer's love birds

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love.
In the Parlement of Foules (1382) he wrote:

For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.

("For this was Saint Valentine's Day when every bird cometh there to choose his mate.")

To this day expressions of love are exchanged - although I fear the commercial card is far removed from the love poems of yesterday. Wanting to re-create the making of a Valentine but with a 21st Century twist I decided to use modern technology.

I had another chance to play with the Brushes app on my iPhone while drawing / painting this fluffy pink heart. My skill pales in comparison with much other digital work that is multi-dimensional and very good indeed.

In fact it was another blog  that spurred me on to practice more and get to grips with the application. Gillian Holding posts a self portrait of some kind every day and her work is so much more than the superficial manipulation of the application. Each day there she has a new way of seeing herself and her surroundings.

Another daily posting by her – (do some people never sleep?) My Life and art blog! is a very worthwhile read. I particularly enjoyed Sods-laws-of-creativity which echoes the frustrations of every artist when you realise that someone has done your ideas first – AND better!

 And so I wish you a Happy Valentine's day.