Winner of the Chief of Horticulture Award

Last night was the opening reception for the Cylburn Arboretum Art Exhibition.  52 Baltimore, Maryland artists were represented.  All works were inspired by the lovely Cylburn gardens and it was amazing to see the variety of interpretation.  It was really fun to be part of this celebration.

This work, which I call Duet in Blue and Orange, won the Chief of Horticulture Award!  I was so amazed and pleased.

And this work, Moment of Loveliness, was sold minutes after the exhibition opened:

Butterflies

I went back to Cylburn Arboretum today to see if I could see it with fresh eyes--not just last week's sea of green.  In one of the garden beds small white butterflies danced, alighted, and fluttered through these purply-blue flowers.  This little orange creature paused long enough for me to capture the moment.

Every butterfly was out in full force today making the most of each sweet flower.  These brown butterflies with yellowy-orange spots were having a wonderful time drinking the nectar from the pink flowers at the edge of the woods.

Perhaps the most magnificent were these butterflies, which I think are Eastern Swallowtail Butterflies, that were attracted to a large hydrangea.  Their wings were fully open when resting on a flower, then would close as they drank, only to open as they flew to the next blossom.  They must be migrating through Baltimore.

I came home with so many wonderful photographs and my mind is brimming with ideas for watercolors, but first I want to share these moments of loveliness.

Shade Trees: From Sketch to Painting?

Recently I went to nearby Cylburn Arboretum to see what I might paint for a benefit I am participating in this fall.  In spring there are paths lined with pink and white magnolias, a field of sunny daffodils, a walkway lined with dark green cypress and golden forsythia, and an orchard of cherry trees that scatter their petals at the first rain.   In early summer there are peonies and later on roses.  

This time I was surrounded by a sea of green.  I remember an art teacher once saying how difficult it was to paint in summer when there was little contrast except for the vast range of green.  Already it was hot and humid by 9:30 in the morning.  I sought out paths that led into the woods where it might be cooler.  So many paths were blocked and off limits because of fallen trees.  We have had a couple of storms this year that wrought havoc, downing trees hundreds of years old.

I turned away and found this path with wonderfully contorted tree branches that grew down to the ground and then reached up again to the sky.  As I sketched and painted, I tried to figure out how to depict the dense foliage where it seemed I could see every leaf. I knew I need only convey the sensation of leafiness, coolness, green.  I thought about Vincent Van Gogh's amazing pen and ink drawings composed of a myriad of strokes.  He made it look so simple and easy!

I wonder whether I can create a more finished painting from this watercolor?  Does the scene hold enough interest? Does the composition work?  How would I handle a larger painting?  Should it be in watercolor or oil?  What do you think?

Fleeting Moments

Yesterday I took a little time to sit on my deck and enjoy breakfast before a day spent getting through a long to-do list.  It was hot and humid--true Baltimore weather.  The cicadas had set up a racket that was only rivaled by the hum of air conditioners.  Off in the dense foliage of the trees a woodpecker hopped from branch to branch--sometimes pecking away at the main tree trucks, sometimes tapping at a branch while hanging upside down.  Closer at hand the most beautiful spiderweb hung suspended in the air anchored by thin threads to the patio umbrella above and the deck railing and window box to the sides.  It glistened in the sun. The web finished, the spider scurried to the center.

I went inside to grab my pen and sketchbook so I could draw this amazing creation.  When I returned the spider and web were gone!  Only one gossamer thread remained to show they had ever been here.  I did this sketch from memory, drawing each line with patience.  As I drew, I marveled at the spider's tenacity to  connect each thread with care and weave such an intricate design.

August Bounty

Summer is great for all the wonderful fresh produce available at farmers' markets here in Baltimore.  August is perfect for ripe tomatoes, fragrant basil, sweet peaches, watermelon, and so many other good things.  A favorite open-faced sandwich is toasted whole grain bread, a dab of pesto, a slice of tomato, a pinch of salt, freshly ground pepper, and a sprinkling of parmigiano reggiano.

Lunch Time Sketches

I work in downtown Baltimore and like to sketch on my lunch hour.  This store front attracted my attention the other day.  It was such a statement about our changing world.  Originally it was a stationers' shop, then a bookstore, then a cyber cafe.  Now it is for lease or sale.  We don't write letters as we once did, we buy more books on e-readers, and most people have mobile devices and don't need to go to a cyber cafe.  Fortunately, the architecture survives to tell the story.

Here are some other sketches.  This is Old Saint Paul's Church on Charles Street.

And here are the spires of the Mount Vernon Place Methodist Church:

And a view of Mount Vernon townhouses for the hotel restaurant across the street:

Finally, a view of downtown skyscrapers looking uptown from the Inner Harbor:

Cool Vista on a Hot Day

I thought everyone would like to look at something refreshing while we swelter through these hot days of summer.  Just imagine yourself in this beautiful garden stepping from one cool stepping stone to the next across the water.  It's a lovely little lake in the gardens of the Heian-Jingu Shrine in Kyoto, Japan.

Napping on a Hot Summer Day

This is what Alexander and Nicholas, my cats, are doing these hot summer days.

Happy 4th of July!

This is a watercolor I did many years ago, but it captures the day and I wanted to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July!

Tuscan Journal

In late April-early May a friend and I travelled to Tuscany to paint in Florence, San Gimignano, Siena, and the Chianti area as well as follow the Piero della Francesca trail from Arezzo to Urbino.  What a wonderful experience to sit in the square in front of San Lorenzo or along the Arno near the Ponte Vecchio and try to capture these sights.  Painting the fountain in the Boboli Gardens made me think of Sargent's brilliant watercolor technique.  San Gimignano was charming with its medieval towers.  Siena provides great challenges in capturing the amazing striated Duomo and the beautiful interior courtyard of Catherine of Siena's house.  Our drives through the Tuscan countryside were a delight for every curve of the road brought new vistas of vineyards and cypress lined hills.  The winding road to Urbino made us feel as if we were going to the farthest and highest point in the world.  Once there we saw a fabulous exhibition on the Ideal City and one of the stars of the exhibition was none other than the Walters Art Museum's painting of the Ideal City.

So, please, come and join me on the adventure with a few pages from my journal:

Pedernal

One last post from my recent trip to New Mexico.  I painted this watercolor of Pedernal, the mountain Georgia O'Keeffe loved so much and painted often.  The view is from Ghost Ranch and shows the brilliant spring greenery along what must be a stream in this desert landscape.  I did the oil painting below after an autumn visit to Ghost Ranch in 2009.  The view is much higher up--about half way up a steep climb to Chimney Rock.  New Mexico is amazing for its expansive landscape and big skies and painting there has been an absolute pleasure.

New Mexico Paintings

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Here are a few of the watercolors I did when travelling in New Mexico with a friend:

Canyon Road in Santa Fe is filled with art galleries from one end of the street to the other.  The artistic talent represented here is truly amazing for its range and quality.  We found a shady spot at the top of the hill and painted this typical Santa Fe adobe building.  

It's hard to see the scale here, but these are towering white cliffs of volcanic ash at a place called Plaza Bianca in Abiquiu that Georgia O'Keeffe called the White Place.  It was a favorite place for her to paint and there are a couple of her paintings of the cliffs at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe.  In one letter to Alfred Stieglitz she wrote about how she was driven away by the insects.  My friend and I arrived very early in the morning to paint before the heat of the day, but like Georgia we were soon driven away by the heat and the insects.

Very close to Georgia O'Keeffe's house in Abiquiu is the Penitente Morada, a small church that looks out toward the Sangue de Cristo Mountains.  The skies in New Mexico are immense and the cloud formations spectacular.

This trip was all about seeing where Georgia O'Keeffe painted so we went to Ghost Ranch where Georgia O'Keeffe painted in the summer.  Ghost Ranch conducts a fantastic "Georgia O'Keeffe Landscape Tour" that takes you to many of the places she painted on the ranch.  This is an amazing cliff at one end of the ranch.  It's part of the Colorado Plateau.  The rock striations of lavender-grey, naples yellow, ochre, burnt-orange, and rose were a treat to paint.

Echo Canyon is just up the road from Ghost Ranch.  It's a naturally occurring amphitheater, I suppose carved out of the rock by wind and water.  Rich iron ore stains run down the canyon wall where water has poured down over the canyon rim.  The curved rim with its bit of vegetation hold the intense blue sky like a cup.

Postcard from Abiquiú

We arrived in Abiquiú, New Mexico where Georgia O'Keeffe lived and immediately went to the White Place (Plaza Bianca) to paint - tall columns and outcroppings of white volcanic ash.  It's an amazing place - very spiritual.  Today, it's hot and buggy there, but we enjoyed it thoroughly.  Came back to the inn and painted in a charming courtyard.  Wanted to share this trumpet vine sketch looking up at the wooden slat viga.

Postcard from Santa Fe

I painted this card this morning on Canyon Rd. in Santa Fe. There are a myriad of art galleries up & down the road.  This was the view from the tea house where a friend and I stopped for lavender lemonade after painting all morning. Blue skies, sun, dry - you would not know it was 99°!