Ash leaves and an old Waterfall

On Wednesday the rain interrupted my painting. On Thursday and Friday, my schedule prevented painting. I wonder if I can make painting a higher priority. I hope so.

One of the combinations of leaves looks like a mermaid tail to me. I decided to let it look like that.

I went through my recent paintings and decided which ones to keep. The others will be returned to my paint bag so I can reuse the back of the paper for sketches. This next waterfall painting is from a day I spent at Hansen Park, New Brighton back in May. It is one of the keepers and I did not see it in my past posts.

Backyard Woods

I feel blessed to have natural space right out my back door and time to sit out there. I tried a different way to render the negative space on this picture. I am not entirely happy with it. Tomorrow I plan to return to simpler compositions.

Being outside is my favorite thing. Some people have told me that they feel uncomfortable in the woods. At first that surprised me but I guess it has to do with your experiences. The woods is my recharging place.

I have painted three days on a row now. I hope I can keep this up.

Wild Plant

I think this plant is called a "cockle burr" but I could be wrong. It has those sphere shaped prickly things at the top. This was growing wild next to a park bench. I prefer the term"wild plant" over the term "weed".

Deer Friends

This one will make the deer hungry for lunch.

Hopefully the cayenne pepper I sprinkled on the hosta will encourage the deer to move on.

Today I sat in my own yard to paint and that was enjoyable.

I am working on getting over the self-consciousness of wondering what the neighbors will think.

I guess they will think I am painting and move on with their day.

Showing up at the pen and paintbrush is the first step. It is also the second step, and the third through the hundreth step. No sense in counting. I trust I will know when to do something more than simply show up and paint. So far it is enough.

Petunias

There is something about petunias. The blossoms are billowy. The leaves are compact. The buds are long cylinders. You have to yank out the dead blossoms to promote new blossoms. I feel like I have written this before. I will stop there.

Landscape Arboretum

I decided to become a member of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum since it looks like I might be in that area more often now. I have family nearby. There are many perfect painting spots. The first one was right on the path on a busy day, so it was hard to ignore the people stopping to look over my shoulder. The second one was a bench that was about 5 yards off the path, so fewer people came to look. I think the young couple sitting on a rock behind me were waiting for me to get off the bench so they could sit there. I was aware of their conversation, and I could have chosen to listen to the words, but I was in the zone and wanted to stay there. I'm almost certain they were not speaking to me directly. If they were, they eventually gave up and left.

The pen drawing is of a fake waterfall in a garden at a hospital. I was there visiting.

That was a long dry spell.

For the last six months I have considered giving up on having art of my own. Life would be a bit simpler if I removed this expectation from myself of having to create stuff. I still kept a sketchbook, but I did not give myself permission to use my time to pursue my own artistic interests. So far my summer has been lots of dishes and laundry and gardening and walks and visiting people and reading and doing puzzles. Those are all good things to do. I realized the other day that it is not enough. I need to have a project that energizes me. So far I do not know exactly what my next project will be, but it will not come to me unless I start showing up at the canvas or watercolor paper. Here are a few images I created recently.