More tuberose! Can't stop now.

Still drawing these babies to death, as they wither before my eyes. 

The dying blossoms are like little white gloved hands grasping at the air until they finally wither and shrink into tiny brown husks. 

It's all about the moment and the dialogue. The flower speaks to me, I speak to the drawing, the drawing speaks back to me, and so on. Sometimes there's a little shouting, sometimes a whisper. It's never boring.

My New Beau, the Irene-Bow 8/29/11

Some pix from today's dramatic, highly active sky, early morning to dusk:

On Painting Moments: Realizing the Ephemeral

Back to the tuberoses. Like the previously painted and digested squash blossoms, the cut tuberoses begin to wither on the stem almost faster than I can mix colors. This is part of why I enjoy painting from life, rather than from photos: in life, things are ever-moving, ever-changing. Even the slightest movement adds a sense of life to the painting or drawing. 

I sometimes use photos for reference, especially if I can't finish the painting before the subject passes (or leaves town), but there's nothing quite like drawing directly from life. With (human) models, you get to see emotions  pass on the face and in the gestures. Every slight physical movement translates into an adjustment on the work surface (canvas, paper, etc), so the painting becomes a series of moments. The same applies to still-life models. 

Squash Blossom Painting Finished, Blossoms Eaten

Below: the finished watercolor/ink of the squash blossoms.

Below that, the same blossoms (plus a few that did not get painted) stuffed with goat cheese parsley and basil, lightly fried in a beer batter,

and drizzled with cilantro/mint yoghurt!

Here are the stages of the painting from the drawing though the finished piece. I probably would have overworked this one without the threat of wasted/uneaten food/produce hanging over my head.

the drawing

light was of color over the drawing

more detail in color and ink

almost complete

Final is pictured at the top of this page.

Now to the tuberose.

To Paint or To Eat? Squash Blossom Dilemma and More Nature Shots

A visit to the Freight Station Farmer's Market http://www.localharvest.org/freight-station-farmers-market-M13674 in Winchester, VA following the "Chef-for-a-Day" experience I enjoyed with my daughters at One Block West Restaurant http://www.oneblockwest.com/ presented me with the experimental locavore versus excitable colorist dilemma: to eat or to paint?

At "Chef-for-a Day" 

we dipped goat cheese rounds in beaten egg, and then in Panko crumbs to ready them for frying. Our favorite vendor at Freight Station suggested I try using squash blossoms to stuff with the goat cheese. But when I got the blossoms home, I decided they had to be memorialized in a painting first. Started the drawing yesterday, so if I get the painting finished today, I may still be able to fry 'em up. So, can I write my food off as a tax deduction if it serves as model before being digested?

Meanwhile, we have our very own NOVA show of animals and insects ever unfolding.

After returning from the farmers' market, the dogs jumped out of the car, heading full speed toward an oncoming vehicle, only to veer off after a herd of nearby deer that the vehicle had stopped to let pass. Fortunately (for the venison, oops, deer), the dogs gave only minor chase and came back home winded, but elated to find the driver of the vehicle that had slowed for the deer just happened to have a few dog treats to hand out. That's the way we roll in horse and hound country, where every shop has a dish of dog treats for man's best friend.

Then, as I rushed outside to beat the storm and see whether any tomatoes worth picking were left on the vines, I found this beautiful mantis, our new best friend, hunting down stinkbugs. (Note the big belly, we provide lots of sustenance for these guys.)

A few vines down from our Mantis, I found a tomato hornworm coated with rice! Had to look this one up: the rice are small brachonid wasp eggs. When they hatch, the larvae will feed on the hornworm, which is good news for our tomatoes, but bad news for my tuberose/ white-lined sphinx moth studies. The voracious Manduca Quinquemaculata  (Tomato Hornworm) becomes the Five Spotted Hawk Moth, and the other Tomato Hornworm (Hyles Lineata...yes, I had to look these up and won't remember the Latin names if anyone ever asks, but it just feels right to use them here)  becomes the White-Lined Sphinx Moth pictured below.

Then, those Tomato Worms that survive the parasites and other predatory threats have to face these wasps (pictured below) hardly getting a chance to linger at the nectar of the tuberose.

Well, that about does it for this episode. Back to the squash blossoms.

More tuberose and hummingbird moths

I just can't tear myself away form the tuberose patch. But it's starting to fade, so I have to keep working before it passes. The hurricane winds that are expected this weekend just might be too much for the flowers.

STOP, spiders! and Earthquake (added later in the day!)

This morning I drove my daughters to school, and one of them said there was a gigantic spider on the stop sign we had just passed that they had seen from the bus the day before. She said it was the biggest spider she had ever seen. So, being a compulsively curious arachnophobe (bad combo), I turned the car around.

It was big... no, it was gargantuan! (Funny how "gargantuan" sounds like "tarantula") We almost got the car stuck in the web. Really.

Even after a 5.9 earthquake (unbelievable...thought it was the overloaded washer, at first) the spider was still chillin' in her wispy looking abode, with her gigantic egg sac hanging nearby, safe in her view, unlike my own offspring who seemed a world away during the quake of 2011.

a couple of new drawings

 a pencil study of a tuberose:

the cutting garden:

yesterday's twilight feeding - moths and tuberose

Hummingbird moths having a sumptuous, nectar-laden feast at the tuberose patch yesterday:

I started one drawing of tuberose two days ago and hope to finish it and post it soon. 

The intoxicating scent of the blossoms seems to echo at dusk, until the entire patch is fluttering and humming with moths, interrupted by the occasional loud buzzing of some sort of large wasp that feeds on the hummingbird moths. 

Second Post in Two Days - Back on Track?

Didn't notice until I posted the photo... the gloves are wringing even without 

my hands in them ... really, not staged!

One good tomato. The only reason I keep weeding.

Then, as I'm sweating away, getting stung and chewed to bits, it dawns on me... the stink bugs are chewing on the weeds I'm pulling!! This must have dawned on every nearby farmer... why pull the stinking weeds the stinkbugs are attracted to???

Meanwhile, the crop continues to suffer, while I sweat, all bitten up

and  a breath-taking, Wolf Kahnscape lies just beyond

is it worth the trade for the sudden burst of a fresh-off-the-vine-tomato

while the next row reminds you how fleeting life can be

(at least, this year, in the country, in the extreme heat, and relentless insects?)

This one watches over the garden, planted by nature from last year's seed.

This one hides herself.

This year we've had a less lush and productive garden, but we appreciate every moment.

After gardening this evening, I saw this Phoenix in the sky, and thought:

the garden is burning itself out this year to produce lush foliage and vegetation next year...

 I always look for signs

eagles and trees and time

I have to accept that my blog time won't return until the girls go back to school. Any extra time I have is devoted to drawing, and that time is limited for the time being. But I wanted to post today's photos. A friend alerted me to an eagle sighting on a nearby carcass, so I dropped everything and went on a shoot.

The immature bald eagle allowed me to get pretty close:

Unfortunately, the adult male circled way overhead and didn't come down to eat while I was there:

Light and trees: