here i am on a blowy spring evening in the city of angels. wind is whipping through the oak trees. from my perch in front of the old french windows i can see a golden sky and waving branches. someone’s windchimes are tinkling. moss cottage is creaking.
the spring garden is full of bright blossoms of every sort.
i’m almost out of pages in my biggest sketchbook/visual journal. i think i’ll use this old ledger for my next big sketchbook.
i like to move around from place to place for various painting, sketching, journaling activities.
different scenes unfolding just outside the window.
and of course there is also my porch and patio perches. but not for windy days!
i’ll miss this sketchbook v v much. i made it from a marbled portfolio handmade in venice and purchased by me one cold winter day. only a couple of pages left now.
bought the portfolio in 2012. sewed in pages for a sketchbook in 2015. started using in 2017. i’m slow like that.
here we are. another sunday stroll at my favorite public garden in the universe:
let us examine the delicate cactus blossoms that only last a day.
opening and closing whether anyone is there to notice or not.
the yellow christmas trees the aeoniums push out are splendid. bravo!
the aloes are on the non-stop train winter into spring. bloom bloom bloom.
a cabinet of outdoor curiosities.
if you get a chance to see a child in time oh don’t miss it! it’s lyrical, sad, lovely. maybe you can catch it on demand…? another masterpiece on pbs.
hope you’re up to something good wherever you are. i’ll just be here sitting at my desks. thinking.
Fabulous journal flower paintings!
Your flower pictures are a delight for this winter weary northerner!
Always a feast for the eyes and heart.
Random thoughts on your random blatherings:
Your lavender is so vibrant! I want to run my hands across it. Remember the lavender by the sea on Lummi Island?
Photo #1 of your painting is STUNNING. I want to frame it. Send it to me STAT.
The book “the great alone” that someone mentioned has been recommended to me by Mary Joan.
I like the yellow flowers that look like a stalk of bananas. The teeny ones like we had in Panama.
I can not look away from that gnarly cactus! You need one of those in your yard.
Let’s go get a cafe con leche at cafe tropical! Right now!
Thank you for sharing your amazing photos….nothing like what I see grows here in CT! Daffodils are just now daring to come out. And I love your art…I’m a fan.
Ok..is that ledger filled with lined paper? I have 3 sort of looking like that but with lined paper I keep staring at them thinking.
MAM I had to do a double take on your painting to figure out which was the real one. Delightful! When you get back in the saddle you go gangbusters. I just got back from a memorial service for my neighbor of 14 years. She was one of those saucy, ballsy, spitfire types that I love so well. You never have to wonder where you stand with them, because they will flat out TELL you. I love people like that, and will truly miss that woman. It’s a very misty rain kind of day here, so I am just going to curl up with a cup of coffee and read a bit. I downloaded a book called The Great Alone. It is told from the POV of a young teen girl whose father just got back from the Vietnam war, and suffers from PTSD, and her hippy mom who loves her husband and will follow him anywhere. He inherits 40 acres in Alaska and they set off without a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of, to settle in Alaska. I read the sample first and it drew me in right away, so I ordered it. Great read so far! Thanks for the beautiful photos of flowers. Ours are still being shy. I will watch that movie for certain!
oh that book sounds good.. an adventure in alaska!
Was at the Huntington Gardens yesterday and thought of you.
It was air conditioned by swift breezes, making it a perfect day to walk.
My sore calves today prove it.♥
oh such high winds! huntington is nice at any time though, rain or shine.
Those lush flower photos and your sketches are always a delight.
I clicked on the movie and watched . So good. Thanks for sending it our way mam.
glad you got to see it. i needed kleenex at the end especially. loved that ending!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mary Ann–It’s always nice to read your random blatherings!
I always love seeing the flowers from that lovely garden- also a favorite of mine. But I have to say, your paintings are so stunning and realistic- almost botanical reproductions on the page! It’s hard to tell the real ones from the painted ones. Bravo!
oh you’re too nice, but i thank you! 🙂
PBS is streaming “A Child in Time” for a limited time: ends 4/15/2018.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/shows/the-child-in-time/
Thanks for the recommendation.
oh thanks for this maria!
Mary Ann…thank you for another stroll through your creative life…you always cast a spell!!
Grazie!!
why thank you bailey 🙂
Thinking is good. More people should try it.
Your plants are so different from those here in the south that we might be in different countries – or planets?😊. what a lovely and interesting garden to stroll.
One last thing. I am taking up sketching. Absorbing and addictive.
ha ha ha ha ha!!!! about the more people trying it.
yes!!!! about the sketching. highly absorbing.