1/8 Sheet
Arches 140#CP
Already the light is changing in the late August sky. I've spotted dogwoods already kissed with a red blush, tulip trees have begun dropping their leaves, and the emerald green of summer is fading to tarnish. My ornamental grasses have developed their plumage, and the figs are almost gone. School has begun in earnest, and the last horrah of summer is ahead this weekend.
I LOVE the fall - with its harvests and ripening, colors and berries, seeds and apples, campfires and holidays. Though our summer this year, feeling shortened by cool temperatures and rain, has been incredibly pleasant, I am eager for the fall and all the culmination it represents.
This painting was done in preparation of a larger work and the use of a few new paint colors. I'm already collecting leaves for fal projects and hunting for berries. There are a few apple festivals coming up, the State Fair, and other joyous events.
I'm making preparations -- how about you?
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, August 29, 2013
The Pond in Fall
Monday, August 26, 2013
Sunflowers - pen and wash
140# Arches 140#CP
Thank you all for your well wishes for the festival. It was fun, exciting and successful! The day couldn't have been more beautiful - sunshine, low humidity, and not too warm. There were over 50,000 people at the festival, and the sea of humanity kept walking and talking and looking and laughing, eating and enjoying hour after hour. I want to acknowledge the tremendous help of my husband and friends who were there with me talking with customers, dashing for snacks, setting up, tearing down, and supporting my efforts. I owe them a huge amount of thanks.
School begins this week for my North Carolina grandchildren. In these final days of August I too return to enjoy the last of the sunflowers as they say good bye to the season of light and heat. Already I see their yellows mirrored in the fields and here and there among the trees .... I hear the words of John Denver this morning from his song "Fall" ....
"Reflections in the water like shadows in my mind
Speak to me of passing days and nights and passing time
The falling leaves are whispering, winter's on its way
I close my eyes remembering the warmth of yesterday
It seems a shame to see September swallowed by the wind
And more than that it's oh so sad to see the summer's end
And though the changing colors are a lovely thing to see
If it were mine to make a change, I think I'd let it be
But I don't remember hearing anybody asking me ....."
Enjoy the week and the warmth and the sunshine!
Friday, August 23, 2013
Delphiniums - Brusho
Brusho Paint Pigments
140# Arches CP
Been another busy week and I've been readying for participation a large festival this weekend. I was juried in to the 'Cary Lazy Daze" festival in North Carolina and I"m thrilled. There are thousands of attendees, music, arts, crafts, entertainment, food. I won't have much time to visit other exhibits, but just being able to participate in this event is exciting!
The weather again has been a mixed bag of cool and warm, sun and torrential rain. The figs continue ripening a pint or two at a time, and they're a wonderful gift. There'll be another day of jam making and more dehydrating for the winter once the festival is over.
School has begun for my grands as well. Seems the summer has passed in a blur of activity and weather changes. Funny kind of a year.
Hope you have a super weekend!
Monday, August 19, 2013
Pink Purple Hydrangea
12" x 16"
Arches 140#CP
Funny thing about hydrangeas - at least these old fashioned, snow-ball types -- they respond to the pH in the soil by showing their flowers as more pink for more alkaline soil or more blue if the soil is more acidic. This year, the same hydrangea that has been happily blooming a marvelous blue/purple had blooms of pink, blue, almost white and purple! I think it was having an identity crisis!
I have a new variety though, the name escapes me now, that is growing about 3 feet from this shrub that remains pink no matter the soil type. The blooms are far more delicate and paler -- but it is definitely always pink. I have too a smaller shrub of hydrangea, lace cap, that showed more blue this year and it resides right next to my 'old fashioned.' Go figure. Watching the appearance of the flower colors was like watching someone wearing a 'mood ring!'
Been a rainy weekend and a good catch up after several intense weeks ...Sun should be returning along with warmer, more typical temperatures.
Have a great week!
Friday, August 16, 2013
Daylillies for Nancy
Commission
It's been such an incredibly busy time for me -- I can't believe that my grandchildren begin school again next and the following week. This summer has been so unusuallycool and rainy - and it has absolutely flown by!
My figs have begun ripening as have those of my neighbors. Today a few dear friends of mine got together for a 'figging' party where together we made fig preserves, dried figs for the winter, make a peach and fig tart for dessert and shared a simple dinner - all while watching a movie in between courses and dishes. Such laughter and joking and sharing -- can you imagine a chatty group of women in the kitchen all at the same time!! Yep -- fun too!
These daylillies were a commission from one of these dear friends ...painted from one of the many photographs I took of her marvelous garden. We'll mat and frame it this weekend ...
My own garden is bearing the signs of summer's ending. Most of the Queen Anne's Lace, purple cone flowers, gaillardia and other flowers are in seed -- all wonderfully pollinated by the abundant butterflies we had this season. I'll soon be collecting seeds to distribute for next year's crop.
Along the roadsides the goldenrod has begun taking over more and more fields, while the woodlands are showing signs of yellowing tulip trees and sycamore. The colors haven't changed completely, but here and there on different branches, the shift in color has started. Even the sumac is beginning to show signs of red. SO VERY EARLY for us!! We've a long way to go before we have true 'color' -- but it's starting ....
So glad to have spent as much time as I have painting flowers this summer. Their delightful display is almost over. Soon, it'll be time to hunt for fall berries!
Have a great weekend!
Monday, August 12, 2013
Flowers and Arch
11" x 14"
Arches 140#CP
We're finally getting a bit of rain and a surprising 'cool down' this week. The cooler temps we've experienced this year have made this the most pleasant summer in recent memory. Instead of high 90s and low 100sF, we've been blessed with mid 80s to mid 90s --- far more pleasant in comparison.
It's been a summer of flowers for me ...can't seem to paint enough of them. This was painted in a more traditional method after a splash and splatter start.
Hope you have a great week.
Wednesday, August 07, 2013
Rudbeckia pen and wash - HAPPY BIRTHDAY DORIS!!
On your special day, may you find joy and happiness in abundance!
HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS, DORIS!!!!
Many many more!
Hugs across the miles!
Thursday, August 01, 2013
In the Pink
12" x 16"
Arches 140#CP
It's been an amazing summer - temps have been cooler, there's been more rain, crops have been delayed in their ripening, and already I see fall goldenrods along the roadsides ...
Still, the flowers of summer insist that the season is not 'quite' behind us ... and so I honor their effusive joyousness and continue to paint them in all the glory and beauty they deserve.
Enjoy the sunshine!