bee creative

d...delights

Yesterday I had the day off...

Some of it was spent at the beach day dreaming. 

Thinking about deep things...and maybe not so deep.

Last weekend I bought flowers...

The dahlia to the left is one of my favorites, Cafe Au Lait.  When I got home I realized it's pretty much the color that I painted the bottom of the house. 

I've realized recently how consistent I am with colors, how often I am drawn to the same colors when I choose things. 

A recent drawing, or really more accurately, a doodle. 

And one last delight...dots.

 

June arrives

While standing on the porch one minute before a sunrise that was too cloudy to see, I notice that the paths around and in and out of my garden form a nine patch as they intersect.

It makes me think of Jude.

Still playing with the pansy ink.  The purple on the left is where I squished the flowers into the paper. 

The ink is dry; I think the color is different because of the paper.  It also gave me purple fingers for a day.

This morning's mark making.  Flower moon and charcoal ink along with the pansy ink.

And then digital layers, more charcoal.

June is when everything grows so fast here; along with the typical rain, it is warm and the days are long. 

It's also when the roses bloom...

heart's ease

Yesterday it rained and rained and rained some more. 

By late afternoon the sun came out.

I wandered the garden pulling bindweed (which is determined to strangle everything).

And then I picked the darkest of pansies,  which I am guessing, because of it's tiny size, is probably related to the Johnny Jump up version of pansy; also known as Viola tricolor or Heart's ease. 

The marks on the lower right were made by pounding one of the dark pansies.  The pansies above are another type.  There are a few lobelia too, broken off as I was untangling the bindweed. 

And then I made two kinds of ink, one with water and a bit of vinegar (there is a sample too of just the water and pansy) and the other with vinegar and salt.

 

This morning both had changed...

The pansy + water + vinegar is a greenish gray and the vinegar based ink is blue!

The purple/pink dot is what the ink looks like this morning.  I am guessing by afternoon it will be blue too.

This ink isn't supposed to last long.

Like wandering in the garden, it sure eases the heart.

For anyone who is interested, Jason Logan's Substack newsletter is a wonderful exploration of color. I've followed some of his advice making these inks.

possibilities

A coffee ink dot that when turned just right made me think it might contain something, hold something. 

A dot that had the potential of something else (like a stone or an egg?) even though I liked it just the way it was.

Like this.

Or this.

Everything holds the potential to be something else.

pruning

It seemed that the lilac started turing brown overnight but the high bush cranberry (a native viburnum) is glorious at the moment.  At the edges of the day it glows outside my window. 

Two or three years ago I had to cut it back to it's base because it had an illness of some sort. 

Last year I pruned the plum trees heavily, this year I have more baby prune plums than I've ever had. 

I think there is a lesson in this.

From the little blue book I am assembling:

Blue watercolor samples.

And a boat inspired by Hazel...mostly drawn with my eyes closed. 

The front sail was drawn after I opened my eyes. 

The boat needed some balance.

 

dreaming, day forty six

Spring will come...

two dot day, day forty one

It's a two dot day...this one inspired by yesterday's tomatillo husks:

And this one the result of going back to some doodles I made yesterday:

And then there was this from my morning walk:

It was warm and windy (15-25 MPH) and beautiful.

Raining now, hard enough to be noisy. 

Grateful for a warm cozy place to be. 

just trying, day thirty nine

Hot air balloon of some sort.

Must be one giant flower...

Color experiment. One shirt was soaked in a mordant and then quince leaves it was yellowish when it went into this pot.  The other was brown, probably walnut, not soaked in a mordant.  The water is pink from the avocados and there is some silk that was was white as a test strip. 

I'll let is soak for a day or so and then let it dry. 

sampler, day thirty one

Brick pigment.  Middle row has charcoal added and the bottom iron/oak gall.

I am practicing using a dip pen for fine lines and lettering. 

Getting better...

maybe, day thirty

Plan B:

I knew there was a reason I was keeping those beads...

I will need more wire though.

Hopefully with nothing dangling they will leave it alone. 

Charcoal ink, ochre, and mullein (I think).