Today is one of those wonderful days where winter is giving way to spring. Here in California where I live it means the air is cooler, sky is blue, the breeze is fresh. Buds are forming on trees that shed their leaves and had them blown away by the east winds. Bulbs are emerging, some already blooming. It’s just a delightful time to be oot-n-aboot – we were oot for a good 3 miles, dogs, and Josh, and the X100V!
I have a dish
For my fish;
My fish is dead,
It has no head.
As I mentioned in my last post, I am trying to change my de facto style into something a bit lighter in color, less intense, and more abstract. This round I am working in layers with an idea in mind. The idea is the spring thaw – frozen water broken up (perhaps), or a stream suddenly overwhelmed by waters pouring down from mountains, as spring warms and melts snow in the higher elevations
I used a liquid frisket with a bamboo pen, drawing with the resist, smearing it around, and finally using a brush dipped in detergent to create different shapes. From there I painted using a 1.5″ flat brush to place colors where things could be. Above is the result with the frisket removed.
Watercolors on 16×20 140# CP Arches.
I am not really sure what I am doing these days. I don’t really like what I am painting. Moving into abstraction to some degree, trying to loosen up, trying to be more suggestive than representational. Like anything new, or different, it can be very uncomfortable. A part of me wants to work with less intense colors, and for me, that seems like an impossibility! So, I keep trying. Let’s see where it all goes.
Watercolor, Arches 140# CP, 16×20.
I always love a walk in the local botanical garden, but I haven’t been for awhile with one of our dogs. I fell down a hillside because one of them pulled me off balance – squirrel! – and am rather uneasy, but today I went. Luckily, nothing happened except beautiful weather, spring scents, new leaves, narcissus, and bulbs. I didn’t plan on taking pictures, but my trusty phone came in hand. Smudge brought her nose and one helluva good time.
The people who care for the garden do a wonderful job, and spring cleaning, or new year cleaning, came as the underbrush and detritus of last year has largely been cleared away. Only fallen leaves and new plantings – even my favorite old oak tree that usually has a pile of leaves in its center where branches grow was clean. Maybe the wind, maybe the fairies in the wood.
Because of my fall down the hill with Smudge, I decided to take the easiest paths I could find in the climb to the top of the hill. Switchbacks with low degrees of ascent and descent worked, and we had a wonderful walk.
We spent a few hours wandering around, sitting on benches, observing people and plants, listening to squirrels and crows, seeing lizards climb trees and play hide and seek in the ground cover. Smudge sniffed and climbed up on the benches to keep me company.
This is a beautiful pine, and though I have no idea what it is (and no label to be found), it is at a corner of the garden, like an old and dear friend welcoming you back.
These bulbs are always so cheerful. They bloom for months and are a bright splash along the trail.
These caught my eye – last year’s foliage, or this years tinged by frost? (We have had some below 32F nights!)
This is my beloved oak tree. It must be 500 or more years old – young when the Spanish first came to the area? Who knows . . . .
I love looking for the narcissus planted throughout the gardens, and the daffodils, and the iris. They all bloom at different times.
The pine tree from a distance. The rocks lining the pathway are new this year!
This is a native plant, and it’s rather a fun one. When the bladder pod to spread its seeds, the bladders explode and send the seeds flying in all directions.
Initially, I didn’t plan on ending up at the botanical garden; rather, the goal was the dog park. However, it turns out that on the third Thursday of the month, the dog park is closed for cleaning and maintenance. So, how lucky were we to be able to enjoy this wonderful day?
Ink, Yarn & Beer 