My McCartney Rose......

I'm so glad I went outside to check on my flowers. We're due to get some rain later today (yay!) but I wanted to check on the flowers on the side of our garage. I hadn't watered them in a while, and I was hoping they were OK.

So thrilled to see that my McCartney rose is flourishing! It's almost 5 feet tall and looks as healthy as ever. Seems my fertilizing a while back was heartily welcomed! I love this rose: the color- such a pure, true pink; the gorgeous tea-rose fragrance; the glossy green of the beautifully shaped leaves. And to think I bought it because it was named after Paul McCartney!

I've already done a painting of this rose a few years ago. I just may have to do another one. Better get more rose madder genuine!

Allentown 2009......

The Allentown Art Festival has come and gone for another year. How lucky we were with the

weather! The view on the left is of Delaware Ave. early Sunday morning, hours before the crowds appear. We got there pretty early to ensure we got a good parking spot- boy we wished there was a Tim Horton's nearby!

The photo on the right is the view looking into my booth. And yes.....that is a painting hanging on a tree! While setting up, I noticed a screw in the tree and decided to hang a painting on it. Later on I asked my husband if he had put the screw there last year. I didn't really have to ask! Engineers are a resourceful bunch! I ended up selling that painting, too!

The photo on the left is taken at the award ceremony Saturday evening. My motorcycle painting is in the center with a blue ribbon on the upper right. What a thrill, an absolute thrill. The award ceremony is so nice- they do such a great job. At the end of the day Saturday, we are all so exhausted- hot, sweaty, hungry, etc.. and they have great pizza, cookies and drinks for us to munch on before the ceremony begins. SO thoughtful!

There I am on the right getting the official photos taken.....and I just LOVE having my picture taken!! (Grrrr.!!) For some reason, I never look like Angelina Jolie in the photos! Damn.

A wonderful festival all around. A good friend of mine won second place after me, and another friend on 1st place in abstract watercolor. It makes it so much better when talented friends win, too.

Returning to Quebec City.....

It's been nice to get back to painting again! I laid down some tonal washes on the old stone walls of the buildings, plus I got in some detail work to help establish some darks. The buildings on the upper left have a lot of woodwork- boy will that take some time to do! The windows will also require a lot of detail work.

For the gold trim I'm using burnt umber, burnt sienna with some sepia thrown in. The stone road and building washes are a mixture of burnt umber, burnt sienna, french ultramarine, sepia, and a little cobalt blue. The green in the flower basket in the front is mostly sap green with some windsor yellow and a little indigo and burnt sienna.

I'll have little time to work on Quebec City this week, with the summer art festival season beginning this weekend with the Allentown Art Festival. I have no idea how it will be this year, and I'm definitely anxious about it. Will people be looking to buy, or will they be "just looking?" The amount of work required to do these shows is enormous....yikes! Not sure if I'm ready for all of it! We shall see!

My favorite columbine......

I love my columbine! I had never known that these gorgeous wildflowers even existed! When my kids were little, they would give me handfulls of these beautiful wildflowers that they picked in the woods behind our house. All moms know there is nothing better than flowers presented so lovingly in little sweaty hands! Plus, I had never seen columbine before! I love their unusual shape and soft white color.

I worked very hard to create a columbine garden in the shaded area behind our garage. These beauties love shade, so the north garden worked perfectly. I am so glad that the columbine have flourished there. I'm trying hard to keep them going. Anytime I see columbine in the stores, I never see my white variety for sale. I think it's important to save and protect native wildflowers. Lately I haven't seen any more growing in the woods. Important to nurture my garden all the more. Plus, I love the memory these flowers give me of those "flowers for mom" days! Now if only I could do them justice in a painting!

It's iris time.....

I've been busy with my camera these past few days! When the irises are ready, I have to be! My work these past couple of years making a new perennial bed have begun to pay off.

These irises have adapted quite well to their new environment. I'm not sure of their names- I just know that I like them! I really enjoy doing simple paintings of single irises. For the yellow iris I will probably use a lot of Windsor Lemon, with a little Dragon's Blood for the rust colored sections near the base. The blue iris will call for Cobalt Blue with some Windsor Blue as well. I like that the foliage is slightly different shades of green for each iris. These will be SO much fun to do!!

First iris of the season.....

The first iris of the season is always a surprise. This beauty is in a new perennial border garden that I made to surround my large vegetable garden at the back of our property. We had to fence in the garden, due to the hungry critters who would snack on our veggies! I didn't like the look of the ugly, but necessary, metal fence, so I decided to create a perennial garden to help disguise it- and I thought it would be nice to have flowers back there keeping me company while tending to the garden. This iris really surprised me. I had looked out there the day before and hadn't thought the irisies were close to blooming. The next morning I saw the bold blue/violet color catch my eye in the morning, and I was so excited to see that iris time is upon us.
I'll be taking lots of reference photos now. My neighbors very kindly let me come over and take photos. I'm hoping the weather reports are accurate (!) and that there will be sun and warmth for days to come.

Tulips, apple blossoms and more.....

Yesterday was a gorgeous day. There were rumblings of stormy days to come, so when I had a few minutes and saw that the sun was shining, I grabbed my camera and headed out to get some photos. These tulips, pictured on the right, grow beneath a weeping cherry tree in my front beds. I love the dappled sunlight that comes from the tree above. Not sure what the name of these tulips are, but I love them just the same. I love the blue of my forget-me-nots contrasted with the pinkish-coral of these tulips.

I have 2 apple trees in my back yard. In all the years that we've had these trees, I've eaten a grand total of 1 apple from them! I guess the squirrels and deer and other assorted wildlife back there dine before I do! I love apple blossoms. Their delicate beauty and their equally delicate fragrance. To get this photo, I clicked on the flower icon on my Canon camera to get such a nicely detailed close-up. I use the flower icon when getting most of my close-ups.

This will make a nice painting- pretty flowers against a blue sky.

Considering that today is stormy- lots of wind and rain, I'm glad I took the time to get these photos. These flowers may be gone tomorrow!