Spring Forward

With March's arrival, we the Hyperboreans, or northern folk can officially begin to think about spring.  Just knowing it is on the way makes all the difference. But even though, in these parts, spring takes its time, longer days do lighten the mood. (You notice happier people where ever you go.)

For the people on the eastern seaboard, March roared in like a lion. Unfortunately, that roar was a nor'easter with fierce wind gusts that brought power outages and storm surges. Here, further inland, March skipped in like a playful lamb, and a light wind, seemingly from all directions at once, whirled the snowflakes about. However, the old adage usually holds true:  If March comes in like a lamb it will go out like a lion and vice versa.

More beautiful downy flakes and, surprisingly, each one is uniquely different.

Huddled down in my creativity corner, my snowdrop fascination turned into another watercolour painting, and, then, I moved on to carving stamps and other things.

Paper ~  Flip side of Molin du Roy 140 lb paper.

                                                         Blue tulips, of course.

                                 Sketchbook doodles. Stillman and Birn sketchbook ~ Zeta series.

Watercolour ink blot test. Care to tell us what you see?

Splashes of colour from a $3.00 set of washable watercolour paints. ( An impulse buy just for the fun of it.) Rather waxy, but the paint does not run together, thus no muddy colours.  Brilliant!
Great for kids.

The Ocean.

For this painting on a birch panel, I used Tri Art's liquid glass and acrylic paints. It dries with a shiny hard finish--no need for spray varnish.

I did cast on a hat with Brooklyn tweed yarn. Click here to see the pattern. I am not sure how well the pattern will show up in this colour--time will tell. I do dream of knitting lace though, so I may put the hat away until fall.

                                               A gift that will stay in bloom for weeks to come.
                                                                       I love this colour.

         

                         
                                                  And greenery...Ferns are my favourite.  

When I was a child, I often tiptoed away to the head of the woods to stare at the lush green ferns. For me, they were then and still are a feast for the spirit.

Speaking of greenery, mail order seed packets are on the way. I am determined to have a bevy of blooming sweet peas this summer.  Wish me luck!

 And the good news: this weekend we move the clocks ahead by an hour.
 
Thank you for reading along...  

                                             Cultivate your dreams, girlfriends. 
                                                  They really do come true!

                                                 

The View From Here

Outside . . .

Hello beauties! 

Doe a deer a female deer. 👀

All bluster along the river.

The yellow weeping willows.

Inside . . .

Lately, I've had the urge to knit something. Awhile ago, I bought two skeins of Brooklyn Tweed yarn, so I may knit one of their hats. In the meantime, besides a bit of seed planting, and stamp making, I've been drawing and painting flowers.

At the moment, I have snowdrops on my mind. Must be that spring thing creeping up on me again.  I'd love to see a snowdrop. Besides white, I did notice that, these days, there are amazing yellow and pink ones, too. 

Last fall, I looked for snowdrop bulbs, but didn't find any. If all goes well, and I can find them I will order some by mail next fall and try to force them. Forcing requires about 12 weeks of cool temperatures. A small fridge should work, although they can't be cooled near fruit.

I tried both sides of the Moulin du Roy 300 lb. watercolour paper for the Himalayan poppies. Another beautiful flower that I've never seen. I'm still not sure which side of the paper I like best, although the right side seems a bit more vibrant.( Yes, I am still arguing with paper. Fabriano was sooo perfect!)

I just noticed I am missing a flower stock. :)

Flower doodles.

💖

 (If you've been watching When Calls the Heart, season 5 starts Feb 18th. I can't wait!)

 My last Amaryllis for the season.

Enjoy the week . . .😘

Taking Time

Hello again,

On Saturdays or Sundays, I take time out.  I call it a spa day for the spirit. If you have read The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron she calls the time out an "artist date."  I think a lot of people do, now and then, take time out for beauty and renewal. And after reading the book, you understand how important that time is and how it works to heighten creativity.

Sometimes, I take the time to look at beautiful blogs, but if I am not careful I can get lost there. But even if I do stay longer, I always come away feeling better. Here are two of favourite picture blogs:  Ana-rosa  (for A.R. click on the archive) and The Little Hermitage. 

Depending on the season, I find other things to do such as walking or driving along the river, visiting gardens/greenhouses, bird watching, a walk in the woods, museums, etc., or I might flip through beautiful books. In January when the longing for spring strikes, (way too early I might add) I turn to gardening books.

So last Saturday I made a pot of tea and settled down to admire books that I borrowed from the library as well as a few well-loved ones from my own stash.

O blue! No need to say more.

As you can see, in a simple way, I've been playing with the Apple Pencil. The surface on the iPad is very slick--a whole different medium.

I like the Procreate app; there you can paint/draw/write (Calligraphy) with all mediums and textures.  Also good, Adobe Sketch, Brushes, and there are many, many more. 

It amazes me what some people create with these apps and how quick they learn.

Moving on to Monarch butterfly beginnings, with black, yellow, and orange watercolours.

Finished the Calla lilies and a few flowery doodles.

After another hour or so spent painting and drawing, (with temperatures on the plus side--definitely in my favour), I decided to take my time out seriously and go visit the birds. I've been missing them.

~ Last summer, I met an elderly lady in line at the hardware store. Cupping a small bag of seeds in her hand, she proudly pointed out that the seeds were for two sparrows who visit her every evening. "They know me," she said. :)

Mr. Dee Dee Dee. Dressed to the nines in his tuxedo. (Pic from the archives.)

(A bit of data. This little Chickadee and his mate have the capacity to remember hundreds of places where they have stashed seeds to get them through the winter. Next season they can erase those memories to make room for new ones. (No, the birdies are not bird brains.) For details, visit birdnote.org - Old and New Memories of Black-capped Chickadees Fernando Nottebohm. ) Remarkable I say!  

(Apparently if it gets too warm in winter, their stashed seeds will rot, so if you are out in the woods, please carry a few seeds with you.)

An older sketch. 2015, I think, with fall leaves and Milkweed seed casings.

I only saw this hungry sparrow and a few chickadees on Saturday, but I was pleased to see them.     Birds always make me smile.

Tulips, Drawings and Preliminary Paintings.

                                 Vibrant tulips always a welcome sight in the snowy world of January, especially when you are longing for spring. However, we did have the customary and wonderful January thaw for two days with temperatures on the second day reaching 14C. So lovely!

                                                                One for the drawing board too.

         Drawing on tracing paper saves a step or two, but the drawings can be difficult to see.

                             

A blood root flower and a monarch butterfly with a wee tea pot on the side.

                                    As you can see I've been busy drawing. With a file full of drawings, I have a lot to choose from for painting. 

                                                             

  A dapper fellow.

 A preliminary colour mock-up for a larger painting.

Also a colour mock-up of blue poppies. Usually I don't do trial runs before I transfer to heavy paper for painting, but I enjoyed the process and I wanted to test some colours.  I will be using 300 lb. Moulin du Roy which I haven't tried yet. I used 140 lb Moulin du Roy on these preliminary runs. I find the colour lifts easy, but often the colour looks a little dull, but I like the paper for clean lines.

Command Central. 

The Ikea utility cart was an August birthday gift.  It holds a lot and wheels about with ease.  If you are in the market for one, they are great. (No, most regrettably, I am not receiving any gratuities for saying that.) 

I've named these paintings 'watercolour splashes.' They somehow remind me of children splashing about in puddles.  Wouldn't it be fun for kids to splash about in colourful puddles instead of muddy water.
(Hmmm maybe I am on to something.) :)

'Til next time lovelies...

Cultivate your dreams.

Here's to 2018!

Hi there,

Another post but in a brand New Year. It will be 5 years in April that I've been blogging. (I must find something special to do to celebrate...perhaps a give-a-way.) I find that extremely encouraging since I gone back and forth about blogging, especially last year. But thanks to a few lovely people, (you know who you are-many thanks xx) I am still here in Blog land and happy to begin the New Year, but not without a quick look back.

Before the year ended, I re-visited a few of my watercolour paintings and decided to enhance the colour. When painting sometimes the subject seems colourful enough, but a re-visit may change your mind.  For me, painting is like writing... it does help to put it away for awhile.

The Pretty Pair

Sweet violets. They are one of the first spring wildflowers..so delightful.

The show...:)The story goes like this... I put this orchid outside for the summer. Because I thought the sun might burn the leaves, I put it under a table. In the fall heavy rains and cold nights took over before I remembered the poor thing. Since it was soaked, I debated whether I should keep it or not. I am glad I kept it.  I may even get another bloom.

Since this Amaryllis is rather small, I am sharpening up my pencils so I can draw it and the orchid flower.

* * *

A special thank you for supporting my tictail shop last year. It means a lot to me!
 In the New Year, I hope to add cards and other items to my new etsy shop. Once it gets running, I may close tictail, although I do like tictail's platform.

* * *

Happy New Year! May it be for all of you and your families, a wonderful year filled with health and happiness, creation and peace, with a good measure of prosperity thrown in.

Cultivate your dreams.

 'Til next time...