April Endings

Aw ... not quite the end of April yet, but I've reached the end of the Maruman book, and now am wondering if I want to work on the other side of the page. Anybody with any thoughts on that?
I'm loving sitting in the backyard documenting the spring bloomers -- this week it has been Lily-Of-The-Valley and May Apples in the shade and wildflower garden in the raised stone flower bed ...

...ending up with the old blue Iris that is blooming by the gate into the back yard. Lots of blooms this year. (And you can see on this scan the color of the cover of the sketchbook.)

Two4Tuesday

Nearly finished with the little Maruman sketchbook -- at least the front side. It's set up so that you can use it either way. Here's a branch of the Fothergilla shrub -- which is supposed to be a shade lover, but leans heavily in search of more sun than it gets in MY yard -- and the first Jack-In-The-Pulpit. There should be a few more showing up, unless they've had a bad winter. Or unless DH thought the three leaves meant they were poison ivy and sprayed them... darn it. I just thought about that.

Two more spreads left, and the irises are blooming, the May Apples are getting ready to open up, and I'm sure there's more to come. Yeah, I think I'll have enough happening in the yard to do the back side of the pages in this book.

Meanwhile, Dear Daughter has arrived back home safely in Florida. I spent a few hours moping around after she left this morning -- it's so hard to see them leave! Finally, I decided that boo hoo-ing and playing video games was no way to spend a day off work, so I went and then picked up my friend Marcia and ran to the art gallery to drop off a little watercolor. That cheered me up considerably! Ever since I've been working on another painting (the infamous Miss Vanilla Cupcake) that I CANNOT seem to finish. Sigh. It's been an up and down day.

Happy Family

We're back home from visiting my parents and having a fantastic family weekend. The dear daughter is still here today, and leaves for home tomorrow, the sun is shining, and our main plans are get her tires looked at and do some fun running around.
I sketched the lemon trillium patch in the back yard yesterday evening. Normally they fade fairly quickly, but the weather has been cool and all the bloomers have stayed in good condition for longer than normal. I started growing these trillium about 14 years ago when I rescued 2 small plants from an area in the woods that was marked off for road construction. It took a long time for them to get settled in and start spreading, but finally there is a good strong patch of them. I'm considering transplanting a few into other parts of the yard and maybe to my sister's yard, just in case...

Note: By the way, I have been corrected over and over by my sister -- SHE found the photo of the daughter and gave it to me to scan to put together with a bunch of other photos on CD's to give to our parents along with a gift. SHE found the photo at her house and then I found it in the bag of photos she sent over. Semantics... :-D

Lilac Time

The lilacs are blooming - already?!! They bloom for such a short time, and we're expecting a real cold spell tonight, which may do them in for the year. So I cut a big fistful of them off of my sister's bush and have them on the table in the breakfast nook. The smell is so sweet, and they are so pretty -- so much more delicate than I did them here.

What I love about this Maruman accordion style book is that I am sticking with the "series" bit -- since it all runs together it makes it easier to keep on track. What bothers me about this Maruman accordion style book is that I sometimes feel stuck in a series and in a rut... which is just the other side of the same coin. But really -- with lilacs I would normally have painted them completely differently, yet felt I had to keep within the same style I'd started in the book. Still, I tried to adapt and use less ink and more splash without looking out of character. I've been a bit uptight in this book, too -- just a matter of getting to know something new. I KNOW I'll be ordering a few more of these to play with! (And I got a bit heavy handed and thick with the color on the flowers, too. THAT'S just me getting to know how to paint with gouache rather than watercolor.)

This makes me want to listen to this song -- Lilac Wine by Jeff Buckley -- and I wonder what Lilac Wine would taste like, other than "sweet and heady"...

Yard Foolery

Sitting in the back yard sketching flowers. My version of yard work (at least this weekend.) Yep. And there's nothing anybody can do about it.

Meanwhile, D is busy raking and bagging leaves. HIS version of yard work.

Life is good.

"Spring has returned. The earth is like a child that knows poems."
Rainer Maria Rilke

Foolin or Fibbin?

Was I foolin' or was I fibbin' on Sunday when I promised a peek of my early birthday present from Diahn?
Neither -- I was just forgettin'... which is just proof of how far I am on this side of FABULOUS!

She got me this totally GREAT Maruman watercolor accordion book and a Maruman sketch accordion book, recommended by Laura (we suspect that she funds her travel habit with secret commissions from art supply stores -- but Diahn is right when she says that if Laura recommends something it's usually good!) I also got a piece of Masa paper to experiment with (evil scientist laugh!) and an amazing little travel palette that she made from an Altoid tin. Absolutely BRILLIANT -- she experimented and found that Fimo didn't work well with gouache -- so she made the dividers USING HOT GLUE. She is a GENIUS.

Now I just have to figure out WHICH eight colors to put in here ...

So, yesterday and today, I just couldn't stop working in the watercolor book, painting flowers from the yard. Page 1 & 2 -- an azalea and a weeping cherry...

Pages 3, 4, & 5 -- Virginia Bluebells and a Bleeding Heart...

Page 6 - Celandine poppies ... nearly gone ...

Oh yeah -- I'm having a blast and will be ordering more of these sketchbooks! Thanks, Diahn!