Oil painting on shellac-coated rag paper of quince and wild apples in the noonday sun, 18 x 24.
New (crazy) work
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Dandelion time
We had our first rain in nearly a month yesterday, and the dandelions developed really stunning height and heft practically overnight.
Taraxacum is native to Eurasia, and was introduced to North America by early settlers. The entire plant is edible. It makes excellent bee fodder, especially here in Maine where the only other blossoms out right now are the maple buds. The thick tap root and lush leaf growth also increase the soil depth considerably every year on these thin hillsides.
More rain is predicted for tonight and tomorrow. Soon the forget-me-nots and Centaurea montana will catch up and turn the hillside blue. Meanwhile, early and drought ridden, yellow rules!
New work in progress
This was going to be a post about arepas – delicious grilled arepas made with fresh corn and farmer cheese. But this is not that post. Instead, you’re getting an update on the drawing that has me burning midnight oil and still getting up at 5:30 a.m. for the day job. It’s a still life! With a view!
Mallow and the Causeway, 20″ x 16″, oil drawing on panel. I blame the Dutch.
Sunday in the garden
The new cover on the hoop house is transparent, rather than white, and my still life paintings are quite different under the new light.
Today I put the new hive boxes together on cement block stands.
The fan willows are in full bloom, and full of bees!
New work
The finished version of Asters in a Wire Vase. Oil on panel, 20″ x 16″, and really, quite difficult. Went to see some N. C. Wyeth paintings at the Farnsworth in Rockland tonight, and came home all inspired toward a goal of less ambiguity, more narrative, cleaner lines, and possibly, more pirates.
A day in the garden
I have Wednesdays off from my day job in the summer. This week was the first time it’s been warm enough out to work without bundling up in longjohns and canvas gloves. Here’s what got done: looking south, planted Fedco’s beneficials mix next to the path (under the white Agro row cover), and moved some logs around down in the main garden.
Planted Arava Cantaloupe and Athena Muskmelons in the newly re-covered hoop house. My min/max thermometer showed a range of 128 – minus 15 degrees through last fall and winter.
Planted Giant Winter and Bordeaux spinach, tatsoi, and radishes in the bed under the pear tree. The green leaves are sorrel, ready to be picked for Saturday dinner with haddock and rice.
Moving more (big, heavy, not getting any lighter as time goes on) spruce logs around as garden bed borders.
Work in progress. . .
Sometimes the mid-way point is as interesting as any possible resolution. This is a color drawing for asters and zinnias in a wire vase.
Oil drawing on panel, 20 x 16″.
New work
I’ve been doing studies for larger, or more involved works later on. This piece is on rag paper coated with bull’s eye shellac. It makes a beautifully smooth, toned surface that holds up well over time.
Quince and Wild Apples, 20 x 28″, oil on shellacked paper.
Pysanka
Connie T., who lives a half mile further down our road, has a flock of chickens which lay beautiful blue, tan, and stark white eggs. I know this because occasionally I come home to a box of these beauties on the doorstep – what a treat! She also makes Pysanky, the beautiful Easter eggs that that have been made in Russia and the Ukraine since prehistoric times. No actual eggshells from that time exist, but ceramic replicas have been found from all the way back to the 3rd millennium BC. Legend says that pysanky keep the Serpent at bay, and that as long as sufficient numbers are made each spring the horrible monster will stay chained to a cliff in the Underworld. Thanks, Connie, for making the world a safer place!
Handicrafts edition
I’ve inherited numerous boxes, folders, bags, and piles of well, assorted stuff, from family members over the years. It’s a busy life, though, so sometimes they sit around unopened and mysterious for years while I parse things that have more urgency, or are simply closer to the top of the pile. I unwrapped a box from a long-closed department store in Hartford last night, and found two lovely sewing bags. Here are some photos, before they are wrapped away in acid-free tissue paper, pending their final destination.
Below is a detail of the “H” on the black bag, done in gold thread in a wheat-ear stitch with French knots.
And another detail, of the interior of the figured bag with sewing pad (the soft white wool is a little moth-eaten) and ivory needle.
