Flower Photo Friday

Bluebells in Spurge.

The Pinery

We are just back from our trip to the Pinery. We had a GREAT time.
It was cold the first few days, then one perfect day. The last day
was very hot. But no rain to speak of--only a few sprinkles, and NO
BUGS (except ticks). The wildflowers were quite late because of a
cool spring, but there were still lots to be seen. I will be posting
more pix when I have time. Lots of unpacking and catch-up and busy
day planned with a going away party for our daughter Pearl Girl, who
is moving to Texas with her husband, Karaoke Man. Plus Piano Boy had
a big rehearsal for his two upcoming recitals. Photo by Biker Buddy.

Off to the Pinery

We're leaving today for the Pinery. I probably will not be back 'til Tuesday or even Wednesday.

At this point, the slide-show images are all from the 2005 trip to the Pinery because I didn't have much time and they were the ones that were handy.

Postcard from the Pinery

We are leaving tomorrow to go camping at the Pinery. We'll be gone through Monday. I may be posting tomorrow morning, if I have time--or not--so I'll see you on TUESDAY! Have a great Memorial day.

Tulips in our backyard

I never get tired of tulips! :-D

They are so graceful!

Mothra with Morning Glories

OK, here's my Mothra, or son of Mothra, or grandson of Mothra (must be a guy, kidnapping the maiden in distress!). With detail.

Gouache on Strathmore 11 x 15 cold press paper.

Rocks: Chinese brush painting

I've been reading about Chinese brush painting and attempting to learn it, but it is not easy. These rocks were done on newsprint, which is the recommended practice medium for beginners, but washes do not work well on it. See my orchids here.

Flower Photo Friday: the Peony Tulips again

I love these tulips. I hope they post well, because this monitor is
annoying.

Tulips in early morning sun and mist

I find myself fascinated by senescing flowers--maybe they resonate for
me. I'm a senescing flower myself, lol!

Return of the pinheads

LOL!

Mother's day bouquet revisited

I painted this late last night, another fairly quick sketch--only I
drew it first because it was so complex. I added black because I am
learning about black gouache and it was painted late at night.
THANKS, kids! :-D

5 x 8, ink, water color, and gouache on water-color Moleskine.

fireworks flower (fractal again)

Out-of-the-box fractal flame from Oxidizer. I still haven't got the hang of using oxidizer. At this point it seems much harder and less intuitive than Apophysis. You can see what I did with it in Photoshop here. Thanks to meeyauw for her tutorial here. Hopefully I will understand if I keep trying!

Crab Study, a variation

This is a digitally composited study for a water color painting I hope
to make. It's a variation on the original crab study which I think I like
better than the original. (It will probably also be better than the
painting, as my painting skills aren't up to par yet.)

And so it Begins ("Some Guy . . . with a badge"

PB and SB (Skater Boy) are having a sleepover at our house tonight. Sleepover no longer means sleeping. It has little to do with sleep. The rule is, no noise after midnight so the old folks can hopefully sleep. The old folks (BB and me) stayed up a little later, knowing we couldn't sleep until they settled down a little.


Finally, though, we did sleep, until 3:45 when someone knocked on the bedroom door. We usually leave the door open at night, unless there's a sleepover. Then, we close it for noise reduction and privacy.


"Open the door," I said, because PB was out there mumbling. He continued mumbling.


"Speak up, boy," said the sleepy old man.


"Some guy wants to talk to you. He won't go away until he does."


"Some guy? Whaddya mean?"


"We were out in the yard drinking tea. I don't see why you can't sit outside on a nice night and drink tea. We were in our own yard. How is that against the law?"


"Curfew?" I said.


"Whaddya mean, some guy?"


"Some guy . . with a badge. He wants to talk to you."


BB gets up, pulls on some jeans, and goes down.


In a minute, he returns. ""I don't know what he meant, 'some guy,' it was a uniformed police officer, standing there with some teeny-bopper girl. And I don't know what he meant, sitting in "our own yard." The policeman said they were down at the corner talking to two girls. He's walking them each home and speaking to their parents."


"Did he get a warning?"


"He didn't get a ticket."


So, now it is five AM and I am awake, and have been since 3:45. I have insomnia anyway, and something like this makes it hard for me to sleep again. The boys have turned off their light and are quiet. BB has gone back to sleep. But I am wide awake.

3 new moles

Last night, I painted the self portrait, LOL! I was looking through one of my art books for a Renaissance painting that would resonate for me, but when I saw THIS, I gave up on the Renaissance idea. I HAD to do THIS one (see my first spontaneous mole). This after Francesco Clemente's Self Portrait; the first. I had it in a book, but the one on line is much better than the book, and wish I were looking at THAT one when I made mine. Of course his is bigger than a yard by yard or meter by meter, and mine's in a mole, to say nothing of the fact that he's a much better artist! LOL! But hey, had to do it. :-D

The one I had painted Wednesday or Thursday (been so busy don't even know which day!) were yellow tulips in my yard. They are green, yellow and cream, but mine didn't work out well. I was trying to do a sort of Zen or Chinese brush painting (which of course I know nothing about, at this point!). So I tried again. The second one still isn't good, but it's a little better. I am going to attach it.

so--now I am almost done with the first round (in fact, I may have painted one too many pages, not sure.) But I'm not quite done yet. When my second yellow tulip dries, I am going to paint something on the back of it--hope I don't mess it up!

Which reminds me, the Self portrait after Francesco Clemente is done in gouache, my first ever--I just went out and bought some yesterday, rode my bike to the art store (Rainy Day)--took 25 minutes each way. BUT--here's the rub--I painted the picture last night and it's still not dry. THAT's why I photographed it rather than scanning it--hope it
dries soon, or how will I be able to mail the mole?

OH, and, I forgot to buy black, DUH, which was the whole reason I got
some gouache--but I don't normally use it when painting with water
colors, so it didn't occur to me to get any.

I have a poetry reading today at 2 so have to rush off! YIKES! It's
my first reading in Detroit other than open mics.

More from my bouquet

Here's a couple more close-ups from my mother's day bouquet!!!

like a peony!

this tulip looks like a peony! (In our garden today).

Someone loves me!!!

I was washing dishes in my "dressing gown" (aka jammies and flannel)
when the doorbell rang and I was tucking things in as I ran to the
door and lo and behold, a woman holding a HUGE package--for ME!!!

I immediately burst into embarrassing tears.

I'd been feeling like a failure as a parent because of issues with PB.
THe card was "signed" from all three of them. I burst into tears
again. :-D

It was a nice gift, too, fresh lovely delicate flowers, and when they
are gone, a caraf and drinking glass. Lovely. Thoughtful. Thanks!
:-D YAY!

Dahlia in rain

Even rainy days can be pretty.

mole #6

Good thing this is a SKETCHbook--it says so right on it.

I took my first ever-water media as an adult just recently (I really
am a beginner!) and the teacher was always saying, "You can't hit a
home run every time," That's the scary part about a moleskine! AK!

This sketch of tulips is done in pencil, water color pencil and water
colors in my moleskin sketchbook. I wanted to just try water colors
but was afraid it might wreck the paper. I have a moleskin water
color sketchbook, so I prolly should try that. Then paste it in?

Mole 4 & 5

I did a two-page spread in my Moleskine tonight. Hope you aren't sick
of Biker Buddy. He's a willing built-in model, so I drew him again
tonight, same deal, pen and water color pencil. A sketch--this is a
SKETCH-book, right? (I'll try to do something different next.) He
was pleased to have a "centerfold." I told him if he wanted a
centerfold, he'd better undress, LOL! (Don't worry . . . ){I won't
subject any of us to that, prolly.} Like the other, it's a bit of a
caricature.

Redbuds for the Leaf Lady

Gail misses her Michigan Redbuds.

(Of course, the last one is a magnolia!)

Tropical Jungle: Three Faces

And here are my jungle pix, three faces fromt he tropical jungle. I
was playing with water soluble oil pastels on watercolor paper.

Yellow Calla

I took this with BB's camera while out walking the night before last.

BB commented that it looks like something you would lay on a casket.

The reason people lay flowers on a casket is because they are lovely and filled with hope and are reborn every year. All good reasons to enjoy them any time, not just when someone dies.

Which reminds me of a story about myself, lol! When I was (much) younger, I didn't like cedars, because I always saw them in graveyards and associated them with death. Then when I took dendro, I learned that they were often called arbor vitae, the tree of life. In jest, I called them arbor morte, the tree of death, but as I thought about it, I decided that the association was human and did not reflect on the trees themselves. They are just trees. And besides, a tree of life is a worthwhile tree in human association. I successfully overcame my dislike for them.

For Thursday Challenge: Spring.

"The Perfect Husband"

LOL!