daffodil painting - the three sisters

The three sisters daffodil painting may be finished, but I'm too tired to be sure and way too tired to download photos tonight. This painting has spawned several new ideas/directions that I hope to get to before the daffodil season fades.

on savouring the moment: the daffodil collector becomes momentary princess of the valley

One of my daughters accompanied me on a flower quest. I covet every peaceful, expansive moment with my girls. The sound of the surf always brings to present moments I had with my own mother. Maybe my girls will have a similar experience crunching through leaves in the woods and smelling damp, green, spring-laden air on some future walk.










There was an odd looking branch on the ground, sort of bleached pale grey-blue and almost polished looking. It was a deer antler, lying near a commotion of hoof-prints in the dirt. I showed my daughter, who immediately said it looked like a crown, and placed it on her head. I took some photos, and then we continued on our walk.

Twice during the walk, she arranged the daffodils, carefully and intently placing them with their heads hanging over the rim of her basket. She walked through a garden door, stopped midway, and set one of the flowers in a branch growing up the wall of the passageway. I saw her looking at her composition with a familiar tilt of the head which I've observed myself using at work on paintings.

We brought the flowers into the house.

Then, after carefully cutting a fraction of stem off the bottoms of the daffodils, my daughter spent several minutes choosing the container that would best suit them. Each selected blossom was appreciated and given quiet attention.

As I saw engraved in an old wooden bench, "SAVOUR THE PASSING MOMENT"

visceral beginnings - spring - daffodils

Sometimes the first brushes of color tell the whole story and you wonder whether  enough has been said. But usually, after spending time with the subject, you realize there are more layers to discover and unveil on the canvas. As I paint this one, the subject first struck me in a purely visceral way - a saturated and vibrantly colored burst of spring - transient, get-it-down-fast, before it wilts impression.

Then, slowly more unfolding, these flowers are touching each other so delicately, those  are crushed up against each other, some are beginning to droop and fade, while some are just slightly open buds. And the vases that hold them...these are three sisters. Now back to the visceral before too much chatter muddies the impetus.

light snow, daffodil painting posting later

We had a light snow over the weekend. Some of the flowers took a slight beating, but most seem to be bouncing back. I've just started a painting of daffodils, and hope to get it to a postable point this afternoon.

Meanwhile, a photo of a snow-capped dandylion surrounded by periwinkle colored scylla.

birds of prey

I spotted this rooftop congregation on my return home after filing my taxes, also saw a flash of brilliant blue of a bluebird, but he was too quick for me to snap a photo:

calves and taxes

First the website and now tax preparation. Looking so forward to the paintbrush. Meanwhile, calves! Everywhere!

website, super moon, spring, wine harvest

First, the reason for the scarcity of painting posts recently, my website!

http://marciamnadler.com/

A few photos of the Super Perigee Moon, taken on Saturday, March 19th:

A plump harbinger on the first day of Spring, yesterday, March 20th:

And a very welcome sight: a wine bottle, ripe for picking, blossoms in the creek!

Springing back to the easel tomorrow!

A few shots from today's drive and walk. 

Tomorrow - paint! paint! paint!

spring curtain

framed moon

blood red budding

wind

a gathering of dead trees

reflections on my roots

 Klimt bark

website progress

Still devoting painting hours to sorting and uploading slides of past work onto what I hope will be my website. I hope to get back to painting tomorrow or Thursday at the latest. Meanwhile, I came across this slide of a drybrush/watercolor I did 27 years ago (!) This was an old barn in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. The original hangs in a dental office waiting room in Washington, DC. The original dilapidated barn is probably long gone.

photo from yesterday's walk in the woods

No work in progress... working on website

I probably won't have new artwork to post until Monday. I've devoted many hours to scanning slides of past work and trying to set up a website after several years of procrastinating because I thought it would take up too much of my work time. I was right, but I'm getting it done.

final sitting today - finished portrait

An inspiring, intriguing, lovely, and patient model.

soft folds in angel-food-cake-batter sky

Soft folds of the land and sky:

finishing...almost

Clare and Clark - done! I think.

Ignoring strong urges to start new paintings, I worked on "finishing" a few pieces

The tulips are almost finished

The invasive plants painting is close to complete, but I have to wait for the oil paint to dry 

before tackling it again. And the nasturtium painting which I said was complete earlier is really done.

tulips

I had to paint the a bouquet of tulips before they started to fade. I'll have to look at the painting again tomorrow... it's almost done. 

beginning

close to final

more "on the way to the bus stop" photos

Hopefully, I'll have some paintings ready to post this afternoon. Meanwhile, some morning photos:

The new puddle

Morning shadows

Snow on the mountains

A sign of lingering winter

more drawings: trees and Goose Creek

The first is a drawing of a tree that had a very pronounced, wizened face in it's trunk for two years, jutting out above a distinct profile of another, less weathered-looking face. Last year the wizened face looked as though it was crying sap. This year, that face is almost obliterated by a gnarly growth. I'll try to find earlier drawings that show the face. I miss him.

This one shows a section of Goose Creek. There's a small tree that hangs over the creek in a very unlikely way, almost horizontal, as if it's hanging onto the bank for dear life.

A tree was uprooted in the last high wind storm, and floated down the creek to a bank where it now pools the water and gathers floating sticks, grasses and other debris. I explain this one in detail because I'm not sure whether anyone but myself would know what it is from the drawing. It seemed as though the trunk was gathering little bits of itself that had gotten torn off along the way.

And finally, with a very cold derriere from sitting on damp, cold stone, I tried one last, fast gesture of the landscape.

drawings: landscape, black vultures and eviscerated racoon

I saw bloody ribs sticking out of a partially devoured racoon, and a lushly painted Soutine of a flayed ox came to mind, along with the art history tidbit that he kept the carcass of the ox in his room, dousing it with blood from the butcher as he painted it to keep it "fresh". His neighbors complained of the stench. 

Rembrandt's luminous and painterly treatment of that subject gave it an iconic edge. I think both of those works were painted in relative privacy. I'm sometimes self-conscious drawing and painting outside, in public view, and felt especially so while set up in front of a carcass and vultures. But, like flowers in various stages of growth and decay, the subject matter struck me as engaging and paintworthy. When I draw or paint, self-consciousness of being in public view disappears as I focus on the matter at hand.