#71/365 Paintings
I’m discovering I really, really, really LOVE painting flowers. Can you tell?
A new style in the works this week, very exciting techniques. Stay tuned for more flower power (no commercial breaks, isn’t that nice?).
#70/365 Paintings
I’m imagining — hoping there is a field near Paris or on a rooftop that resembles this painting. This is all watercolor and was painted with a eyelash brush (never worked for me but works for flicking paint to make stalks) and Q-Tips. Fun experiment. Lots of that going on this month.
Oh, and by the way, my friend Lené Gary in Vermont (another snowy place) found this prose poem she wrote for others in snow right now—wildflower buds buried below. Thanks Lené!
Ear to Ground
“To hear the waltz of a bluet, the trill of a lily, the piping rupture of a wake robin in its potential maroon, requires the ear of a flowering heart to catch life limber (underground) months before the first of June. Today is a day I heard them. Goldthreads with their fairied flutes, clintonia with their drums, blue-eyed grass, I knew them well, by their high-pitched hum. Mud nearly rumbled. You’d think it was the frogs. The world is dancing beneath this frosty hue. To bloom, just listen (put your ear right here).” ~ Lené Gary
She’s quite the talent!
#69/365 Paintings
If only I knew what these flowers smell like. This must be how my friends/subscribers here from the Midwest, East Coast, Canada and other ‘white’ places feel. That there are buds tightly coiled under foot, in the trees and bushes. You see, I’ve been feeling a bit guilty parading all these brightly colored wildflowers across their desk every morning. Some folks are saying “ugh, we are still under snow…” while others are saying, “thank you, I needed this reminder.” Perhaps April or May would have been a better choice for flowers, kites, hot air balloons. Honestly, I needed the color myself. This winter was SO cold. See that little bird like character? He seems to be sailing upstream on a piece of watermelon or something. Like he’s lived amongst exotic flowers all his life, and this is just ‘ho hum’ another day in the life.
Project notes: These pieces feel crazy, wild, chaotic and not comfortable. Pretty much the whole time I’m doing them, it’s a blur. And then in the end I investigate what’s just happened and am generally surprised it’s not a vat of black oil with little dried flower looking chunks floating around. That it becomes something at all continually amazes me.
#68/365 Paintings
She doesn’t mind interrupting our view of the wild flowers because she belongs to the garden. Look at her feather colors. She works hard to blend in.
Project notes: Today I got many words of encouragement with the wild flowers and a couple print orders. I find this amazing because never have I felt so out of my element as I do now working in a more random, chaotic manner. But what do I know? Art has it’s own life force and personality. I’m just the messenger, I suppose. I couldn’t be more delighted by these surprises.
#67/365 Paintings
I love wild flowers. An english garden is really something to feast your senses upon. I have several more of these coming to you this month. Given that I’ve produced one abstract painting in my life, this is quite the fish out of water experience in my Flower Crazy class. A few of my gardener friends are waiting until the end of the month to buy prints. So fun.
Have a wonderful friday.
Oh, and I created a Facebook page for this project. So if you’re interested in visiting there. I’ll be updating the page with news and paintings. Perhaps some studio photos, announcements etc. Thank you! Niya Christine Art Page.