Simply Rhododendrons

This is a view of one of the rhododendron paths at Longwood gardens. There are hundreds of bushes that are virtually trees because they have been growing so long. They are my second favorite place there after the lilac bushes. Oh wait, I forgot about the beautiful tulip blooms. As always, my top five is closer to a hundred in art, music and flowers.



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Tulips in Blue

If you look hard enough it's easy to find a little Spring. I have bulbs planted and even a little green is pushing up out of the ground. It of course has no blooms. Fortunately your local grocery store fits the bill with bunches of inexpensive tulips and daffodils. These will have to do until we can pick then ourselves.






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Gold Medal

My arts education started in a little different way. There were no after school classes; it was really all on my own. The reference material for me was a set of World Book encyclopedias (1952 edition) I like to draw the flowers in an old large empty ledger that my mother used to paste recipes into. She was happy to let me fill it up with drawings. My favorite section was the costume color plates. They took me away to exotic and historic places and I loved drawing them. I wish I still possessed the book but it is long gone.



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Daydream Dellght

These past two days have been great. The icy weather event has forced us to stay indoors , canceling planned events. What a great excuse to paint! You will never hear me saying I am bored and there is nothing to do. I even cleaned out the refrigerator!


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Sunny spotlight

Sunlight is always preferable to artificial light in setting up something to paint. I like the subtle shadows of the daffodils in front of a window.


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Dialing for Dahlias

Dahlias remind me of my father. A frustrated farmer, he served in the military for most of his career. We often lived in base housing where yards were a premium.I remember him planting a 3 foot patch of ground with beautiful dahlias of all colors. I think that was his creativity to plant things.



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Green Chair

This painting was done from a set up in the workshop in Nashville. The sunshine was perfect coming in from the window. I haven't done many interiors like this but I really enjoyed doing this one. I plan on doing more.


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Vineyard Porch

I visited Martha's Vineyard in the middle of a heat wave. The blue hydrangeas didn't seem to mind the 100 degree temps; apparently they knew it would go back to 80 degrees the minute I got back on the ferry.



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Victoria

When I finished this painting it had a feeling of a Victorian bouquet. I could see it sitting on a table where tea and crumpets are being served. My family lived in England when I was 2 and 3 years old. It is very disappointing that I don't remember much of anything about living there. There are photos and my sisters' memories, though.


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Three Times Z

I love zinnias and Mason jars, so here is a combination of both. On Sundays we record CBS Sunday Morning and watch it later in the day. If you have never watched it before, please do. It totally raises the seratonin level in humans. There are wonderful stories about people, the arts, food and this amazing country. There is nothing negative and not a hint of political partisanship.


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Drama Queens

I liked the drama of these pink blooms emerging from the shadows.Those in the background have some mystery, waiting to tell their story when the drama Queens decide to leave.



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Marketplace Ready

Complementary colors rock! There is something about yellow and violet that just works. Temperatures are pretty cold here today even though I see the shoots of daffodils coming up in the flower beds. I think we are over the hump for Spring.



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Pop of Color

A problem with painting several objects all alike is to make the painting interesting. Each bloom is affected by light to make it have variety. I tried to convey the warmth of the bouquet.



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