Light Changing

I normally paint botanicals, but in February nothing is blooming and I have no desire to sketch bouquets of store bought roses and carnations. So I have been sketching and painting birds, dogs and children. A stretch for me...but fun to try. 

I do a little better with birds than dogs and children. The body proportions are difficult for a dork like me, but I want to be able to paint my grandchildren as they come along. 

I took a photo of Finn last summer, laying on the porch with his ball in the hope that I would stop gardening long enough to throw it for him. He is so beautiful I wish I could do him justice.  I am painting this sketch as well, but not thrilled with it. Painting dog fur in watercolor is a big challenge. There is so much going on in that pile of brown fluff. 

I am also feeling the need to get my kitty on the white paper too before he heads over the rainbow. He is over 20 years old, and the most beautifully marked Siamese tabby mix I have ever seen. I love his blue eyes, pink nose and raccoon striped tail.  He doesn't photograph well, and even in his sleep he moves constantly....so that will be a challenge.

Yesterdays challenge was this sketch of my granddaughter toodling near a garden bench. 

I will work on this some more today, I want so badly to get the right look of busy curiosity in her face. 

In the meantime I am watching the old world crumble and the new world gestate with hope and joy at the transformation that is taking place.  I know transition is always uncomfortable, but transformation always follows.  It is the constant spiral of Ascension.  We just made a leap from tradition, the world watched as a new President was inaugurated, millions gathered in peace to celebrate and sing a song of joy.  Now, a time of transition, depending on how long we drag our feet in fear until we manifest transformation.  How exciting!

Personally I am visioning a financial system that is not based on debt.  That would truly be freedom from slavery wouldn't it?  I have been seeing future paintings of mine of crumbling super malls, with magical trees sprouting from the ruins.  I sure wish I had the capabilities now to paint some of these images as beautifully as I see them in my minds eye.....but I am working on it daily, in small ways with small things.

Helleborus 'Ivory Prince'

I spent the afternoon sketching my Helleborus 'Ivory Prince' in it's late bud stage. It is still in it's ugly plastic pot on my back porch. I snagged it from my daughters nursery last Thanksgiving. I had felt some guilt about not planting it before winter, but now I have the advantage of bringing it inside on a 35 degree day.

How often as gardeners do we get a close up of this stage of the plant? I parted the older foliage on this one and peaked inside. What a wonder~ the buds are softly tinged with velvety mauve, and are hugged by tiny, protective, and perfectly formed leaves. The Ivory buds are lightly washed in a pale green. The stems are a deep red. It is perfect for a watercolor study. In this initial sketch I accented the color with colored pencil, in case I don't get to paint it right away. I can always refer back to this sketch later. Doing the sketch before painting it I can look at shading and values ahead of time and work out the kinks.

Because Helleborus, also known as Lenten Rose bloom so early, often in the snow, we don't always see the blooms at all, finding only the beautiful sepals when we venture out in warmer weather. That is what is so great about this perennial favorite. The sepals are still beautiful months later as they form seed pods.

I often don't really get intimate with the beauty of a plant until I sketch it. This forces me to really look at how the fruiting parts of a plant really form, It is an opportunity to see just how the bud or flower is attached to the stem, how the angle of the bloom hangs, and just how the flower petal evolves from the sepal. In other words...It's true anatomy.

This variety of Helleborus has a beautiful blue green leaf color with silver vein's.

I will continue to sketch this plant as it's buds open and change color. the challenge for me is to paint this 'Ivory Prince' and it's beautiful and subtle colors
as well as nature does......