Midnight Dandelions - Phase 2

I've been asked lately what I have been working on with regards to oil-painting. It is a large painting I had begun in the fall  and left to "ferment" so to speak. Some paintings are like that...you throw down the inital phase and enjoy that while always knowing there is more to come. And now, here it comes.

Midnight_dandelions_progress

Below is a close-up of one of the dandelion puffs.

I like all the colours that are slowly working their way in.

Md_closeup
Seed pods are on my mind, which is no surprise as I walk down the roads around my home. The last time I went down roads with no sidewalks and nothing but long grass and "weeds" on the verge was when I was a child. Forms and shapes catch my eye as well as textures and colours such as the silvery blonde of the rushes in the ditches next to the maroon twigs of pussy-willows.  There are some seed-pods that are easily recognizable but some are elusive and tease the brain. You can almost see in your mind's eye what they were in their flower stage, but it is hazy and suggestive and no doubt I will be completely wrong come this summer when I come across them again. "Oh, that's not what I was expecting at ALL", I will say to the amused plant who will roll its eyes to the other plants as I walk past.

 

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Snow Fire

Snow_fire It seemed the perfect evening for a winter fire outside in my yard. There was no wind so it wasn't overly chilly and I stayed out for a few hours until I went in for a bowl of home-made soup.

Here the fire is starting off, with strange transparent flames that made it seem that you were looking at the reflection of the fire and not the thing itself.

Later it settled down and burned hotter, the embers in the photo showing up like a lava flow.

It is an enchanting thing to be with both elements at once.

Snow_fire2


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Sun in the Trees

Had a good sit at the river today.

Got lots of... what people would term, "nothing" done. A very good day. Had to wade through the very cold water to get to the sunny bank but was very refreshing and felt like I had a good cleanse. Played with the camera and the sun.

Lynncreek

Forestsun


 

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Iduna's Tree

Appletree
I have the good fortune to have two apple trees in my back yard. So here is a painting of one of them with the sky in her hair.

I was reading in, "Plant Lore, Legends and Lyrics":

In remote districts, the farmers in Herefordshire, Devonshire and Cornwall still preserve the ancient customs of saluting the Apple-trees on Christmas Eve. In some places, the parishioners walk in procession visiting the principal orchards in the parish. In each orchard one tree is selected as representative of the rest; this is saluted with a certain form of words, which have in them the air of an incantation, and then the tree is either sprinkled with cider, or a bowl of cider is dashed against it, to ensure its bearing plentifully the ensuing year. In other places, the farmer and his servants only assemble on the occasion and after immersing cakes in cider, they hang them on the Apple-trees. They then sprinkle the trees with cider, and encircling the largest, they chant the following toast three times: -

"Here's to thee, old Apple-tree,

Whence thou may'st bud, and whence thou may'st blow;

And whence thou may'st bear Apples enow.

Hats full! Caps full!

Bushel, bushel, sacks full!

And my pockets full too!

Huzza! Huzza!

After this the men dance around the tree, and retire to the farmhouse to conclude, with copious draughts of cider, these solemn rites, which are undoubtedly relics of paganism.  (pg. 219)

This appeals to me in so many ways, cider, bowls holding cider, apple trees on Christmas Eve, the word "copious" to describe the quantity of cider and most of all, saying, "huzza, huzza!"

 

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Iris

Irises
This one had to get up early to bear the numerous messages of the gods to each other and to the humans below. In Greek mythology, Iris was the constant, reliable faithful messenger. A goddess of both sea and sky, she appears time and time again as helper to Zeus, handmaiden to Hera, bearer of the water from the River Styx to keep the oaths of gods truthful, and appearing in the form of a rainbow, she would span heaven and earth, delivering what was bidden to mortals. Her name contains a double meaning, being connected both with iris, "the rainbow," and eiris, "messenger."

She is often depicted with golden wings, water pitcher, and a herald's staff and has nothing to do with this garden flower that I have painted.

 

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Kimono

Kimono
Oil painting. This one emerged with a very Japanese feel about it. It makes me think of cherry blossoms rising into the sky with the wind energy catching the petals.

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New Life

Chicks
Watching the baby birds learning how to fly is quite heart-warming. Using the protective lilac shrubs as their playground, the youngsters flap furiously from branch to branch, all clumsy and feather-pointy, chirping madly the whole time.

 

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