9" x 12" Watercolor
Arches 140# CP
The sun finally made an appearance this week bringing our temps to the high 50s and making the days REALLY feel like spring.
But the vacillating weather is not through with us. As warm and springlike as it's been, we are expecting more cold, rain and a small flurry this weekend. Morning fog and icy waters greet us every other day - and in between, we are in shirtsleeves. Quite difficult on the plants as well as on the body.
Still, the flower buds continue to expand, and here and there daffodils bloom along ponds that are iced over once again. Seems the weather is as contrary as politics these days ...
Stay well .....
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Winter Pond
Monday, February 25, 2013
Winter Bouquet
12" x 16" Watercolor
Arches 140#CP
With spring in the air -- it was in the 60sF yesterday - the winter remnants starkly contrast the greening earth. I do so love those tawny colors, the browns and tans, echrus and coffees, the sennas and umbers, auburns and russets. This delicate bouquet came from my own garden of ornamental grasses and surviving flower stalks ... some intact even after the birds have had their fill of seeds. These dried left-overs will remain for years, reminding me of a season of rest and its own quiet beauty.
Already the buds on trees, especially the maples and hickories, are coloring the gray woodlands with a 'spring hue' and after all the rain, the air is damp and fresh promising new life and a new season.
It's time to walk a bit, begin our goodbyes to the winter, and prepare for spring.
Hope your week is wonderful.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Moonlit Pond
9" x 12"
Arches 140#CP Watercolor
There's something marvelous about winter night skies - somehow they seem clearer, the stars brighter, the moon closer. On the ponds and waters, the light makes the water glisten and reflections are deeper. The light is brighter, the darks darker, and the cold of the winter even more bone-chilling. The night is a deeper quiet without the tiny sounds of busy nocturnals... and the daylight seems a long-time coming.
Still, we know that spring is merely a few weeks away and the busyness of that season will grab us all as we leave our nests of hibernation and emerge to turn the calendar once again.
But until then, the night rests, blue and indigo and ebony ....
And so should we.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Snow!!
Snow!! a video by linfrye .... computer working slowly on Flickr.
Taken yesterday morning from my front porch. You can almost hear me doing the "Happy Snow Dance" in that magical hush of snowfall ......
My Personal Winter Wonderland
View from my Upstairs Window toward our woodlands on a fast February snowfall.
We woke to a light rain that quickly turned to flakes and later turned to big, fat, flaky flakes and accumulated on the grasses, on the trees, on the shrubs, cars, yardart ... but not the roads. We received 2" by early afternoon. I was doing the "Happy Snow Dance" and taking a ton of photos.
By evening, the snow changed to rain with a mix of such light snow that it felt like a white mist, and, sadly to me, most of the snow was gone.
Still, I am so grateful for the technology of a camera so I could capture this 12-hour wonderland I've been so hoping to see once more before the spring sets in .
I am a grateful snow bunny ...
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Two Pink Poppies - HAPPY VALENTINES DAY
Two Pink Poppies - HAPPY VALENTINES DAY, a photo by linfrye .... having computer issues cant log in on Flickr.
7.5" x 11" Watercolor
Arches 140#CP
Wishing everyone love and blessings on this day set aside to remember those we love... May we each experience the joys of loving relationships - family, relatives, friends, teachers, husbands, wives, children, neighbors.
May we all bloom in the riches of affection and love!
THANK EACH OF YOU FOR YOUR LOVING KINDNESSES, CREATIVITY AND FRIENDSHIP!
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!
Saturday, February 09, 2013
Pond Reflections - Sharon
12" x 16" Watercolor
Arches 140#CP
It's been cold. The northeast has been hit with a whopper of a blizzard. And here in the sunny south, there are plum trees in bloom, a colorful haze of opening tree buds in the woodlands, and lawns greening up ... It's nutty weather.
I was going through some of my archived 'favorites' and ran across Sharon's incredible photo of this pond. I painted it before in the fall www.flickr.com/photos/linfrye/6922576182/ but wanted to warm my chilly bones and paint it again with the feeling of summertime. I wanted to enrich the reflections so I could include it in the Sertoma's Spring Show "Reflections." Please see Sharon's photo here www.flickr.com/photos/dubonnet/6228002665/ as well as her other wonderful, beautiful and moving work! Thank you Sharon for your gracious permission to use your image once more as an inspiration!
It's been an 'over-the-top' busy week ... finished teaching one set of classes near where I used to work, continued teaching classes near my home, met some friends for lunch, was out of town with a friend for a wonderful, 'simple pleasures' party of food tastings, and spent the last two days sitting myself down and finishing many needed chores like art submissions, class write-ups, preparing for an Herb talk due in 8 weeks (have more work to do on that - but my hand-outs are almost ready), preparing paintings for exhibits, etc, etc. I know, I know, those who told me it would be this way once I retired were certainly correct ... who'd have thought?! LOL
My prayers are with those in the eye of the storm; hope my thoughts and this image warms them a bit .. Have a super, safe, and warm weekend!
Monday, February 04, 2013
Winter Birch Waterscape
7.5" x 11" Watercolor
Arches 140#CP
Webbing Spray
With the prediction from Punxsutawney Phil for an early spring as well as spotting crocus ready to bloom, I'm scrambling to post a few more snow paintings as I am still hoping for one or two more 'flurries' before that seasons arrival.
This small painting was a practice piece for a larger work using white webbing from Krylon (www.krylon.com/products/webbing_spray/). I love the abstract surface it creates which challenges me to find ways to respond to its spontaneous patterns. Lots of fun, and something we'll be experimenting with this month in my classes.
We're expecting temps in the 40s and 50sF this week with little chance of the white stuff. Seems our winter this year has been more swift and schizophrenic with its frequently changing highs and low than the restive, quiet season it once was. I miss that.
Hope your week is terrific!
Friday, February 01, 2013
Sundown on the Lake - Thank you Brian!
12" x 16" Watercolor
Arches 140#CP
My days have been busy, busier than I would have imagined as a 'retired' woman - filled with teaching and new friends, painting, exercising, family. With spring less than six weeks away, and the frenzy of reclaiming my garden, spring cleaning, painting and all the 'renewal' that that season requires, I am relishing those quiet, peaceful evenings when the momentum stills, the sky fills with color, and serenity surrounds my space.
So many flickr images remind me of these magical times, and many of those captures are done by my friend Brian www.flickr.com/photos/31996407@N05/ His photostream is a fabulous tribute to the morning and that incredible peace of the sun's rise as it brings light to us once more. With his gracious permission and the inspiration of one of his images, I painted this view, transforming his image of sunrise into sundown (a particular quiet time for me), and gave my painting the colors of that serenity. Thank you Brian, for your wonderfully inspiring work and for your kindness. Please stop by Brian's flickrstream to take a sip of serenity too.
It promises to be another busy weekend. My granddaughter has another birthday (whereever is the time going??? LOL), we'll be working a bit with my son, and there are bits and pieces of chores that can only be done on Saturdays and Sundays.
Still, the peacefulness of the morning and the serenity of the sundown will be there ... if we but
stop and cherish it.
Happy weekend my friends. And thank you again, Brian!
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