this very week i discovered the watercolor floral works of charles rennie mackintosh. you can find more of his work right here at the hunterian art gallery of glascow, which is where the images above were found.
i’m wild about his stylized flowers and realistic watercolors. i’m also captivated by the way he chronicled each one with the pencil boxes. i attempted one of my own here:
i’ve been busy this week. the discovery of CRM coincided perfectly with a trip i took to a most unusual jungle garden. some of you locals may know this place…
the late afternoon light was golden and there were dark wells of shadow beside the path. i was in desperate need of teleportation to another world and this was the perfect escape. i rewarded myself with a membership so that i may return again and again and again.
i was afraid returning to the classroom in january would curtail my garden & woodland walks. au contraire! several days a week i finish my days in the fading light of a public garden or park.
i need to be outside as often as possible.
i sat on the bench above yesterday afternoon and rolled my head back to stare up into the canopy of this blue palm.
more calladiums clivia. this time red ones!
blooming like crazy along the path.
i will draw more tonight. which i drink a cold beer. ahhhhh….
i am glad i returned to work. or at least that is what i tell myself. the small pleasures grow richer & deeper.
in my sketchbook this week i made some scribbles.
more racoons.
and cactus.
i’m rambling on and on…this is what happens when i go too many days between blogging. ping ping ping. just my thoughts rolling around like marbles in a big cardboard box.
and apparently i’m not finished yet….
after school today i took my new writing journal to the park to end my school week.
tomorrow i am going to flip through an old visual journal in my saturday periscope.
this one i think.
we’ll see
probably around early afternoon.
now i am going outside to inhale as much virginia box tree perfume as possible into my lungs. then i am crossing the street to my neighbor with the blooming tangerine tree. it is dark and cool and the air smells dreamy. maybe i will catch the moon coming over the hill.
thanks for visiting. i hope you’re living the good life wherever you are. doing all those little things that make you feel ALIVE.
see you soon friends. xo
I did not know that Mackintosh did watercolors. I think of him primarily as a graphic designer of sorts and architect (and I’m not sure he was one). I love his signature rose design and have wanted to get a tattoo of it for years now.
Thanks for sharing his work with us!
Very enjoyable post; thanks for sharing, as always!
Gorgeous as usual…where are those gardens??? And what is the weird tree with the fruit growing out the trunk?
Enjoyed it all but 3 things especially….the waterfall garden, the cactus bandwagon and the journal with the cat on the front. Thanks for showing us blooming plants. I am anxiously awaiting some in the Midwest.
Oh my! You were at Huntington Library? right? I was just there last month with a girlfriend that place is such a gem!
Love the Macintosh, love your pages, love the jungle! A feast! I’ve had a clivia living with me for years, but she pops her flowers out at the base of the plant, not on a stalk. I guess she’s a fellow rebel. Your raccoons have wonderful tails!
Omg awesome post thanks for sharing and your effort is right up there and yes I used to have that plant called him Clive lol
This post is so inspirational! The creativity is flowing. Thanks Mary Ann.
Your blog always makes me happy! Your own satisfaction with life shines through and it cheers me to see bits of it. The simple joys and always creativity, right? I love CRM’s art. I’ve had some notecards of some of those same flowers for years and can’t seem to send them!
your beautiful blog is a wonderful resource.
thank you for all the sharing and inspiration Mary Ann
Ever since I found a way to extract myself from petty office jobs i have found the space to be more creative.
I am very drawn to the way you view the world and it makes me very happy 😉
Right now my husband Marty and I are planning some indoor and outdoor remodeling projects. I am thinking of landscaping ideas and home dec ideas. It is a ton of fun for the two of us…we are great buddies.
We live right between the two largest Finger Lakes in NY….the winters are tough but we are sensing Spring!! Seeing the beauty that surrounds you in February (a hard month for me…SADD) helps me a great deal.
Have a great day!
Just watched Periscope
!! AWESOME I don’t have the app to comment so wanted to say Thank you!!
Oh, I’m a member there too, for many years of joyful walking and looking! AND, I love CR Mackintosh too!
Your posts, your art, your intrepid-ness make me so happy! Thank you.
Inquiring minds want to know- which park/garden is it in these photos? I don’t get to Los Angeles very often, just a few times a year to visit my sister and my mother. But I might want to go visit sometime. Thanks as always for posting your work. I had never seen Mr. Macintosh’s work either. Lovely all.
Aloha, Kate
Oh Mary Ann Moss! One of my best days ever was walking through the Mackintosh House in Scotland (land of my peops). The bend into art is big in my dad’s side of the fam and his mom, my (AMAZING) gran was with me. Every angle. Every color. Inspiring. His neighborhood should have been right next to Frank Lloyd. What a view of the world we get. Now I want to go to work in that vein. And what have I learned here? Get a book. Get a pen (and some color) and see.
Thanks for sharing wonder MAM!
Oh hi there Mary Ann, peekin at your over the virtual picket fence. As always your words and images and sketches make me feel good and all wiggly inside, the kind of wiggles one gets when they get a little amped up about all the creative possibilities that are just right there at our finger tips waiting to be explored and pondered. All good stuff here Mary Ann and you wee cacti sketches are my favorite of the bunch…you know I’ve become smitten with them since my trip west last summer, I’ll stayed tuned for the periscope…
more beautiful than always
here its’ freezing !!! thanks for the sun
I’m envious of all the lovely parks you have to wander in and wonderful weather!! Great photos.
Well if THIS isn’t a feast for the eyes! The artist is one I was not familiar with, but now I must look his work up. WOW! Also, your photos are a veritable delight. I love how you so enjoy the simple things. It reminds me of one of my favorite songs which I am going to find on YouTube and come back and post it. The Simple Things just are…
I will also be on alert for your periscope tomorrow. Nothing I love more than a good flip! Thank you for the beauty, Mary Ann.
Here it is…this song reminds me of you, and how you just love the simple things. Dedicated to MAM
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gxWFyk2QAek
I’m a big fan of Macintosh’s too, wonderful light touch. I have a box of notecards of his flowers that I’ve been hoarding for a long time…. Happy Friday!
Thank you for transporting me again! This looks so beautiful, you are blessed in so many ways! Life is good, and I love your sketches and your cactus drawings, they are just perfect to me!
I think the plants that you are referring to as caladiums, are called clivia.
yes yes yes! of course you’re right. thanks for telling me!