new painting: Yellow Lady's Slipper

Creative Every Day. I am creative Every Day. I'm working on a poetry Ms, writing a novel, painting, participating in a mole exchange--I'm so creative that I haven't much time to post about it.

The fire of August in the creative every day Challenge is the SUN which gave energy to this flower to grow and to me, though the food I ate--all energy comes from the sun, from fire--to paint the picture.

Yellow Lady's Slipper

I did this "painting" with Sketchpad Pro (by Autodesk) on my iPad. I did NOT touch it up on photoshop, this is straight off the iPad--I wanted it to be an untouched iPad picture. I spent several weeks working on it because Sketchpad pro is very slow (for me; I'm a newbie.) Sometimes, I used a pogo stylus, but mostly, I used my finger. I "painted" it from scratch, no photo was used. I did however, use a photo as a reference. The photo I used is one I took myself many years ago in the pouring rain. My mother stood over me with an umbrella. I did not paint all the droplets that were in the photo--that would have taken literally years to do. I just put a few representative ones in. See that floating leaf at the bottom? I tried and tried and it would not write there. So--too bad. The floating leaf is now part of the picture. C'est la vie!

If you are looking for the WeekWord, it is here.

A couple Quick sketches

Here are a couple of new quick sketches from my little watercolor sketchbook--spring makes me think of FLOWERS! YAY!

Happy Birthday

And this from Happy Hal:

"Once again , Happy Birthday! It really wasn't that long ago....

"You know what's really beautiful in flowers? They have really gorgeous sex parts!!

"ha,ha

"Hal"

That is one weird picture of me, and I do NOT really like it much.

Living Inside my Words

I'm taking a poetry class that meets on Monday nights. I've been doing this off and on for several years, with Dawn McDuffie at the Scarab Club. Every Monday night, we get an assignment. Every Tuesday morning, God willing and the creeks don't rise (Forgive the cliche!), I write a new poem, based hopefully on my assignment. Every Tuesday night, I review and and revise. Every Wednesday morning I review and revise, and so on as the week passes until Monday. Monday I spend a good part of the day working on my new, week-old poem, and finally print copies to take to class.

The reason I do this is because I have learned that if I inhabit the poem, if I really live inside it, I make discoveries about myself and the world that enhance the poem, at least for me. And each discovery is a little joy, a little euphoria. Sure, there is struggle, panic. Sure there is the tedium of searching thesaurus for the right word and of changing phraseology, only to change it back, three, four five times. But then, there is that aha moment when something inside the poem opens to admit me deeper into its mysteries, deeper into myself.

The poem may still not be done, but it's one step closer, and there will hopefully be more ahas and more revisions. Not to beat a dead horse, but revision means to Re-VISION, to re-see, and vision involves awareness of the self and world, of the interconnections of things. And it applies to my prose writing as well. It's a glorious process. It's why I write.


(The photos represent a first draft poem and a poem further toward completion.)

(Because No Polar Coordinates in my "Master Blog", even though I already posted this to Half-formed, I am posting it again here. Posted By Mary Stebbins Taitt to Half-formed, the Processes of Mary Stebbins Taitt at 2/04/2009 08:09:00 AM)

Flower Photo Friday on Wednesday

No time for real posting. I was awarded a partial scholarship to a writing retreat, Springfed, and am getting ready to head up to Harbor Springs Michigan for lots of writing. Yay! This is one of my flowers--a zinnia, and I hope it's still here when I get back. I know it has to frost sometime. But I am NOT in a rush!

Rosebud, just opening

Rosebud, just opening, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. For Thursday Challenge, Plants.

I am leaving Tuesday for an 8-day trip and will probably be incommunicado (and thus, unable to post) most or all of that time.

Our Roses, again today

I put a quilt behind them for pink. (I also Ortonized them. (A soft focus technique).)

Morning Garden Report

Morning Garden Report I just checked the gardens, as I do every morning, and that volunteer tomato that got dug up is still alive--but barely. It's been further ravaged by what I believe to be slugs from the evidence. Usually the advantage of volunteer tomatoes is great hardiness, but this poor thing has been uprooted and left all day in the hot sun and then all night and ravaged by slugs so its hardiness is compromised, and the yellow squash the slugs have ravaged is hanging in there still, but VERY PUNY. I think there might be poison ivy growing in the veggie garden which if so we have to eradicate it!!! AK--they're very small and seem to have sprouted from seeds, as they has cotyledons! I may never have seen them before!!! But I just googled them and the few that I found on the internet (Didn't want to spend too much time at it) did not have the HEART-SHAPED cotyledons the seedlings I found have. But the tiny new leaves sure look like poison ivy--I'll have to watch them closely and see and be ready to rip them out. Now I am curious. Anyone know something with heart-shaped cotyledons and poison-ivy-like leaflets?

Before we leave for NY, I want to plant the tall yellow marigolds I recently purchased but haven't had time to plant.

Late Breaking news: I got all the yellow and orange tall marigolds planted in pots and in the gardens.

My New Journal

For my birthday, which was Saturday (I'm 62 now!), I received from one daughter an all-media sketch book and from the other daughter, the book, Keeping a Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E Roth. I have been keeping a nature Journal since then in my new book. Here is a crop of one of the pages (which didn't scan well because the book is too large to fit on the scanner.) You can see some sample pages here.

I also received from my daughters Last Child in the Woods*, by Richard Louv, The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Micahel Pollam, and the Wild Braid, by Stanley Kunitz. Thank you VERY MUCH! :-D

From my husband, I received: an 8 gig "extreme" card for my camera, a viewer (which you can see here, if interested), and a new Singer sewing machine so I can put larger pockets in my jeans to nerdily carry more gear.

What do the gifts that one receives say about them? :-D

*View a rant poem that refers to this book here, if interested.

PS: I haven't had time to post all the links yet, so if interested in them, come back later. I have some work I have to do FIRST.

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!

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.

Redbuds for the Leaf Lady

Gail misses her Michigan Redbuds.

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

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.

Along the Black River

Yesterday, BB and I rode our motorcycles for over an hour north to the
Canadian border and then a little West to the Black River and strolled
for several hours along the river bank taking pictures of wildflowers
and enjoying the spring sun. Then more than an hour back. It was
very windy and the bikes shook like mad on the highway. AK! The walk
was peaceful, but the ride stressful!

Latest Italian Window picture, with detail

Here is the latest version of my latest Italian Window picture, with a detail. I missed an in between version. I am not happy with it, though. (Nor is it done, it needs shadows added.) This picture is quite large. I forget the exact dimensions. It also didn't photograph well and looks a little washed out. Click images to view larger.

Unfinished painting

I started this painting yesterday morning (after a sleepless night! [terrible insomnia!]). I worked on it briefly in the morning and then for a while in the evening. This is as far as I got last night--it's not done yet. Every time I paint a picture with real paint, I live in constant fear of ruining it--it's not like painting in Photoshop where there's an undo button if you make a mistake. So before I start working on it again, I thought I'd take a picture of it. LOL! So here it is, in all its unfinished glory. (You can stop laughing now!)

It's hopefully GOING to be poppies and bachelor buttons (cornflowers) in a brown ceramic vase in an Italian window in a stuccoed building. If I don't ruin it in progress.

By the way, this is what I was doing instead of checking my email or commenting on blogs last night.

Chicory

Chicory, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. A rough smudge painting (digitally altered photograph). I have included the original photo, taken in Slovenia, and the painting made from the photo. The photo was a terrible photo that should have simply been deleted. I like to challenge myself to make something good from something bad. Click images to view larger.

I know this is a summer project, but I got a new stand--it's a table easel for painting and it also fits my laptop so I was just trying it out! :-D Hope you don't mind summer flowers in the early spring.

Hope you had a happy Easter if you celebrated and if not, hope you had a great weekend. Hope you had a great weekend anyway.

Water Lily Art Piece from Slovenia

Water Lily, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. I made this digital composite smudge painting tonight from a water lily taken in Slovenia on our honeymoon. Click here to see the progression of my work on this. Click image to see larger.

ABC Wednesdays: C is for