Daffodils

Every now and then, a day becomes more than a day.  I went out to the local botanical garden to do some sketching, and came across a small mass of daffodils all in bloom under the olive tree.  After all our rains, the world is bright with new growth and color – butterflies in multitudes, fresh breezes, the scent of flowers – everything is as if the world was just created.  How easy it is to forget nature’s beauty in our crazy world . . . 

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

     –by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Spring in the California Foothills

We have had a lot of rain this year in California, and throughout both ends of the state.  North and south.  As a result, the hills are a brilliant lime green, and when the sun hits just right, it’s hard to believe our once beige state has blossomed into such beauty.  The wildflower bloom is beginning, from the desert to the high Sierra.  Cacti, poppies, lupines, and so many other flowers await our eager eyes.

Just A Bouquet

Yesterday was one of those days filled with things to do, with more things to do added last minute.  Toward the end of the day, I really was not in the mood to do much more than veg out, be a blob, and sink into a stupor.  Nonetheless, I girded up my proverbial loins, and sat down with an imaginary bouquet in my head and a reference picture for light and shadow to use with the imaginary bouquet.

I didn’t set out to do too much – but in the end, it worked out pretty good.  I kept in mind light to dark.  I also kept in mind working over the whole painting, shifting back and forth from one area to another, and applying a hairdryer when things needed to dry out a bit more than my patience was willing to wait for.  All of a sudden, I swear, my mind said, “Hey, let’s paint around these flowers!”  There were not any flowers in that area, but I did negative painting without too much thought.  Wow!  That was a big shift for me – I’m still quite the newby in this area.

So, here we are.  Colors include sap and Hooker’s greens; Payne’s grey; ultramarine and cobalt blues; hansa yellow; quinacridone rose.  There may be a few others.  I used one brush, too.  The paper is Fabriano’s 100% cotton Artistico, and that alone helped a great deal – evident as the other side of the paper was already used for a wash-heavy exercise!