". Arranged Words: red
Showing posts with label red. Show all posts
Showing posts with label red. Show all posts

13 Oct 2020

Red, Orange, and Gold


Hi everyone,

Weeping Willow Pond and not a turtle in sight. 
They must already be in their winter quarters.

Less than a week later--a lot of leaf fall. Here I am ready to kick my way through the autumn leaves. When I was a child, I loved to do just that. So in the spirit of keeping those memories alive, I still kick my way through the leaves now and then.

Now that it has cooled down, I have the urge to knit. Not sure what yet. Espace Tricot has a lovely free hat pattern on Raverly. Do I need another hat? Probably not, but it would make a nice gift.

I am not sure what these wildflowers are. Maybe Asters bleached out from the sun?
The tree to the right reminds me of an Ent from "The Lord of the Rings.       


         Flowering Moms thrive in cool weather.


                                                 There always seems to be plenty of Crab Apples. 
                                          
On the weekend, we took a drive along The Parkway. I left my camera at home, but I won't forget the beauty anytime soon. Autumn, it seems, still has splendid tales to tell of red, orange, and gold.

                                                                     Blue skies.

* * *
From the Easel...
                  “Sentinel”                          
   Unison Pastels on UART 400 sanded paper.                                                                                                    

Although planning a painting has its place, I often prefer to dive into the deep end. In other works, take my chances with intuitive painting. For this pastel, I did an underpainting with FW acrylic Ink. Colour: Purple Lake. You can catch glimpses of it here and there. Uart holds pastel well, but it tends to curl, and no matter what I do it will usually curl a little. When I took this picture, I forgot to tape it flat, so that slight curl cut off a bit of the tree.

Recently, I bought Canson Mi-Teintes Touch 320gm paper. While made for pastel, I heard that it can be used for mixed media, including watercolour, ink, gouache, and pastel. I am anxious to give it a try.

'Til next time...

Cultivate Your Dreams

Linking to Link Parties via my link party page. Thank you, everyone for hosting!

31 Jan 2017

Changes


 Hi there,

As you can see, I've made a few changes. Call it a blog lift. It's scary. There's hardly any blue left in sight! (If you are new here, I readily admit to being crazy about blue.)  I don't even like to use a black pen, and will walk a mile to find a blue one. Although for easy reading, I usually type with black/grey ink in blog land. I occasionally draw with a black pen but it's difficult for me. In loving blue,  I am not alone. Survey says: blue is the favourite colour. Period! What a slap in the face to one's concept of uniqueness, but, then again, we are all kindred spirits at heart.  It seems my original blue scheme lost the plot next the snowscape pic, so red lettering it is until spring arrives, or until I have a change of heart.
Speaking of colour, I've been craving it. So here we go...



                             Standard January fare...tulips and daffodils. Puts a spring in my step.

 I always hope for a cool spring so that I can stroll by the neighborhood gardens to stare at the tulips.  If it's too warm, they fizzle. Stunted and struggling, they take on that sad this is it look.

* Tip of the day. For cut tulips, drop in a few ice cubes into the vase now and then to cool down their  toes. They love it!

Back in the day, (And a very long day ago it was--say early 17th century.) you could trade the farm, furniture, implements, and your animals for a tulip bulb. (Think Jack and the Bean stock.) Wouldn't the wife and family be pleased? Fortunes were made and lost. It sounds a bit more romantic than  pork belly futures, and once the craze hit, it hit. M-A-N-I-A! "Step right up, secure your future, buy a tulip bulb!" It's a good thing that I was not alive at that time. She did what, son? Yes, mother you heard it right. She sold the farm for a tulip bulb. Rack and ruin! 
That wifee though, she doth protest:  But, but, BUT I must have beauty!!!

 The movie, Tulip Fever will be released next month. I'll be watching.

  Here in Canada, Maple Leaf Tulips will be popping up all over this spring
               in honour of Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation.  (Top row second and third from left on the link page are prime examples.) They are so pretty and were, of course, bred to resemble the flag.

             


  Yet another reason I'm looking very forward to the Tulip Festival in Ottawa ~ Gatineau in May.
                                     
                                           Not until May, you say? Pity!                                                               



  "Flowers always make people better, happier and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine to the soul." Luther Burbank



                           Purple for royalty. That's how it used to be. Purple cloth was too expensive
                           for mere mortals way back when the dye was cast from sea shells. 
Amaryllis.  A never fail winter favourite of mine. They are easy and fun to grow. Every 
year I hope to find different colours. 
Besides being beautiful.  They also hold the keys. 💗
                              I love old keys, and have recently started a collection.  I sometimes wonder 
who carried them, which clocks were wound nightly and by whom, or which house doors they 
locked and unlocked.  I'm not certain the skeleton key on the right is old though, but a keeper it is.

                                        

After Christmas, I try to catch the Amaryllis sales. I can't resist.

Such a lovely blooms and what a colour. (Looks like I may have nailed the colour 
on the breast of the little bird below. Who knew? Serendipity!)
*
"Flowers don't worry about how they are going to bloom.
They just open up and turn toward the light.
And that makes them beautiful." Jim Carrey

 I started this little painting on the wrong side of a bit of scrap paper. It's difficult to tell which
 side is the right side if it's not marked, but I didn't have a plan...simply the time and the will
 to create something.
 
                    "With freedom, books, flowers and the moon, who could not be happy."

                                                                  Oscar Wilde  
                                                          Did he mention birds?


A line drawing in basic black and white with a touch of red thrown in.
Arches scrap paper--frayed edges and all.

                                           "I must have flowers, always and always."

Claude Monet

Truly a man after my heart.

'Til next time...

11 Oct 2016

Water Lilies ~ Time Slip

October 11, 2016
Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day in Canada. So if you are in Canada, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

My the seasons have moved fast this year. So fast that I feel like I'm in a time slip.  Spring, although late, (it always seems late ;) and summer...so lovely.  And now slipping through the cracks: autumn: a blast of gorgeousness and refined beauty. What luck, this year, to have such wonderful seasons.
Clearly, I haven't mention winter. It, of course, it's not without beauty, but since I lived in the Arctic for many years, with winter arriving in October and leaving the end of June, or later, I do so appreciate spring, summer, and fall. And I wish, each year, that they could linger just a little longer.

White Water Lily

If I could capture the reflected light, I'd love to paint these lilies. Oil paints would work, but I  don't own any oils, nor do I know much about them. ( Monet comes to mind. He could make a painting sing.)

 Yellow pond lilies.
What a wonderful pattern on the water and O that reflected light.

Going to seed in a beautiful way...



It's always a treat to see something you haven't seen before. What an unusual colour.
Friends:
Red squirrel.
A cooperative leopard frog.

Collage:

Would a smaller pumpkin work? Perhaps I just need a larger doily.

On the Needles:

The Flora Cowl with about 29 inches/73.66 cm to go.
. . .
I'm off to enjoy a cup of Matcha.

'Til next time...do have a lovely week!