Blue sky. Mid-seventies. Light breeze. I never cared particularly for dogwood trees until one spring when I got to see their dancing blossoms in the woods... now I like them very much. (Never liked spinach as a child either, and now it's a favorite. Tastes change.)
P. G. Wodehouse novels often get the covers read off of them... I haven't read this one yet - a student of my husband's lent it to us. I think it's due to be returned on Tuesday, but what's sleep if you have the possibility of laughter and an unread book?
Part of learning to read involves flashcards which come home from school and end up in the kitchen or the living room or on the dining room table.
Black bone and pearl, made at the bead store last month, long, but not too heavy.
Sometimes it's just too tempting to be literal.
A party favor left on the coffee table catches the light at the end of an evening.
The overgrown crabapple is now blooming in the back of the house. The serviceberries or juneberries are also in bloom - native small trees or large shrubs with fruit like slightly bland blueberries in June. A few late daffodils hang on. Lawn furniture, grill, tarps, tools, and other odds and ends are in a great tangle on the terrace, as we need to park the car in the garage for a while, and of course the garage was full of other things. I expect it will rain on everything tomorrow and make a merry mess. Spring.
Blooming now.
Made of painted glass with attached jewels by the youngest member of the family. It will come into its own this summer, when we eat supper in the back yard. Really, it would have been warm enough to eat outside today, but I worked this weekend and when I got home, everyone was tired. So I'm looking at this little candleholder and imagining the long slow evenings of summer vacation.
Right now she likes to hear the Indigo Girls singing "American Tune" over and over as she falls asleep.
I arrived at the after school program a little early for pick-up today and the sun was shining. I sat and looked at the trees and the grass, enjoying the moment in between obligations. It is eccentric to sit still and look around with no particular purpose - but intensely pleasurable. I was not able to keep it up for long, as I saw the shaggy shadow of the tree on the grass and purpose claimed me. I decided to draw. Added the color after I got home, trying to match my remembered mood.
I love the shapes silhouetted against the orange wall in the dining room.
White china marker resist.
My heart sorrows and my hand paints - how are they connected?
I was offered a giant flower arrangement after an event at work. Disassembled it into various vases around the house, some with the flowers, some with just bunches of leaves. This vase is on the table in the front hall window. (I didn't paint the junk mail - leaving that for another night, another composition.)
The flower is in a pinch vase made by a child. The blue paper was also on the table, so it found its way into the composition.
I am on the lookout for signs of spring as forecasts offer rain, freezing rain, and snow. A balloon bouncing around the corner of the living room reminded me of the color green again.
Sometimes the best choice is just to draw a toothpick and get to sleep on time. (But this was drawn from an actual, found-in-the-pocket-of-my-jacket-after-a-taste-of grocery-store-sample toothpick, and not some idealized or generic reconstruction.)
The green coffee cup against the green table was both intense and soothing. There was a bright red chair behind it. And the coffee tasted good on a rainy afternoon.
By two days after Easter only the candy which is less appealing is left... chocolates? gone... jellybeans? gone... discount lollypops? hmmm... no thanks.
For those of you who have asked about buying work, I have donated this small gouache painting (5.5"x7.5") to an auction to benefit a progressive candidate for City School Board, Heather Arnet.
The event is
Friday April 13th
5 - 8 p.m. @ Pavement
3629 Butler Street, Lawrenceville
If you are in Pittsburgh, please stop by and introduce yourself - I'd love to meet you.
These flowers get less and less tidy and more and more interesting to me as they wilt and twist with age. Can we take them as models, becoming more intensely ourselves as we get older?
At a friend's house for a giant holiday dinner today with her extended family and friends. This niche in the wall of her living room is full of small statues - I drew after we ate. I don't think stippling counts as exercise, but it was too cold and snowy for anyone to be enthusiastic about walking.
Even if it is snowing out, these make me think of spring.
Telltale remnant of a chocolate egg eaten early...
Painting one hand with the other.
I can hear the wind outside. Felt snow on my face walking between buildings today. Spring is full of such reverses, and even with a sweater on, I'm thinking of the longer daylight on the walk home...
I notice the odd angle of her hand in sleep.
Amazing blossoms on a warm day against the bluest sky imaginable. The temperature is supposed to be even higher tomorrow (75 degrees F.), and then to drop 40 degrees in 48 hours with a chance of snow flurries before Easter. A master gardener told me that this variety of magnolia comes from a part of China where they don't have spring cold snaps... these blossoms may not make it through the end of the week.
This and another have been ripening slowly on the counter.
